The men’s golf team shot a collective 103 over par for a fifth place finish in the 2009 Northern Athletics Conference Golf Championships on the Irish Course at Whistling Straits on Oct. 12 and 13.
Lakeland sophomore Gary Petit paced the Muskies, carding a two-day total of 158 to finish 14 over par. Petit’s total was good for seventh place overall on the leader board and his second selection to the All-NAC team.
Petit finished inside of the top ten on three occasions this season, finishing the season sixth in conference with a 77.8 stroke average per 18-hole round. Petit’s best round came at the MSOE Invitational on Oct. 4 and 5, where he shot one-over-par 72.
Petit talked about the NAC Championships, where he believes he could have finished better.
“It felt good to finish high in the tournament, but I was disappointed in myself,” Petit said. “I let my tournament go in the last three holes each day. The last three holes I went 7 over, and played the other 30 holes 7 over. So I could have placed a lot higher.”
Men’s golf coach Tyler Borman agreed with Petit and believes the tournament was a good indicator of his team’s progress.
“Gary’s played really consistent golf, but he struggled finishing both rounds at the championships,” Borman said. “I wish our team would have finished higher—we finished where we finished all year long, so it was probably a good reflection of where we are right now as a team.”
Borman talked about the work ethic of his number one golfer.
“Gary is talented, and works as hard as anyone in our program. I think he is more than capable of achieving his goal of being a four-time all-conference golfer.”
Petit believes he can achieve his goals as well.
“I want to become all-conference for the next two years, and one of my goals is to become player of the year, and make it to nationals either as an individual or as a team. Another goal of mine is to win a collegiate golf tournament, but the major goal I want to achieve is making it on some tour for golf.”
Borman said his number two and three golfers improved throughout the year.
“Ben Laubusch played solid golf at two all year. I knew what I was going to get from him all year,” Borman said. “Brian Ballisteri had an up and down year. I got a player who was willing to work on his game every day, but next year I’ll expect him to be more consistent.”
Borman was happy with his freshmen golfers, Sam Fischer and Matt Matthias.
“Matt played as well as anyone except Gary, I was happy with him at the Conference Championships.
“Sam struggled at times this year, but I was happy with his performance given he’d played limited competitive golf before this year.”