DENVER, PA - Jared Wilcox refused to let a recent injury mixed with a cold and windy afternoon hamper him from playing solid golf.
In fact, the junior out of Falmouth, NH instead did the improbable by rounding Foxchase Golf Club in just 74 strokes - breaking his own program record in the process to lead PBU to a 17 stroke win over host Penn State Berks Thursday afternoon in Denver, PA.
Wilcox fine-tuned all of the little things necessary in a record-breaking round, nailing 3 birdies, hitting 12 greens in regulation, and pulling off a seven hole stretch in which he parred every hole.
It marks the third time Wilcox has set and then lowered the school record, as his previous best of 75 was nailed at Dauphin Highlands one day shy of a year ago back on September 26th of last season.
“Jared had a phenomenal round and really showed me a lot today,” said head coach Brett Nelson following the day’s events. “I wasn't even sure he'd be able to play earlier this week after some health problems, but he stuck it out and came up huge for us.”
But following sophomore Corey Snyder’s solid mark of 82, the rest of the crew didn’t fair quite as well in the windy conditions.
Rookie Garry North fired an 89 on the afternoon and senior Nate King - who shot a career low 77 in his last outing - carded a 90 to round out the top competing four.
“We struggled in some tough playing conditions today as in was fairly cold and windy.” Nelson said. “It is a course we have gotten to know over the last two years but the greens always present a challenge for us.”
In individual play, sophomore Tim Slothower’s first match of his career was impressive as Slothower notched an 86, while junior Dave Hill shot a 92 and rookie Sam Wilcox was right behind with a 93.
“We had good scoring out of Jared and Corey but will need a better overall team result on Saturday if we want to be in the mix against some of the top competition in the region in NCAA III. The wind conditions really hurt our tee to green game and the difficult greens proved to hurt us again as we had numerous missed short putts. The important thing is that we got out of there with a win and we're looking forward to a good tournament Saturday.”
The golf squad will head to Hummel’s Wharf, PA to play at the Susquehanna Valley Country Club. Match time is 1:00 pm.
