Despite a sixth place individual finish for freshman Austin Bishop and a personal best of three birdies for sophomore Lauren Van Horn, the men’s and women’s golf team finished in the bottom half of their respective tournaments.
CBU Men's Invitational
The men’s team participated in the CBU Men’s Invitational hosted by California Baptist University on March 21-22. After two rounds on the opening day, the team found themselves in 11th place. Two rounds and 11 hours of golf hurt Biola on the scorecard as they found it hard to maintain mental focus. Despite the long hours, Bishop finished the day in fifth place individually and sophomore Dominic Rodriguez hit one of the seven eagles earned at this point in the tournament.
Biola’s long day of play combined with commuting to the course, led to a sleep-deprived team heading into the final round. Bishop earned his lowest round score of the tournament by one stroke, knocking him down to six in the individual standings. Despite Bishop’s individual standing the team finished the tournament 11th out of 16 teams.
Next Tournament
The next tournament for the Eagles is the Golden State Athletic Conference Championships on April 25. With more than a month to prepare, the team has a specific game plan to prepare for the tournament.
“We’re focusing a lot on short game because that’s where we’ve been struggling a lot,” said freshman Dominic Ariondo. “And we’re starting to play more just ‘cause we’ve gotten in the habit of practicing too much where we’re not getting on the course. And then we’re also — the course is Industry Hills, in the city of Industry — so we’re getting some practice rounds out there”
Women's Team
The women’s team competed in the UC Santa Cruz Invite on March 19-20. Sophomore Lauren Van Horn led the team by finishing 22 over par, resulting in a 15th place individual finish. The team finished with a combined 105 over par and placed sixth out of nine teams.
“I would say that we did really well morale wise, our confidence and our mindset was really in the right place,” said junior Amanda Hobbs. “We start off every morning with a different devotional so we’re able to get in the mindset of taking it out of being so competitive, and focusing more on being a team and what that means as players for Christ.”
Noticable Absence
A noticeable hole on the Eagles’ roster is the absence of freshman star Mychaela Graff who left the team over winter break. Graff individually won two tournaments this season and led the team to its first team win in program history on Sept. 15.
“Mychaela was our top player and it was sad to see her leave,” Van Horn said. “But she wanted to focus on golf. She’s not into school right now. She’s taking some time off of school to just really focus on golf and we are really supportive of her in that. But it’s definitely not the same without her.”
Shift in Focus
The team’s focus shifts from this tournament to the upcoming GSAC Championships on April 25-26.
“This will be a really good time for us to focus on what we need to work on and make sure that we can be the best that we can be for regionals,” Van Horn said.
The Eagles find confidence in the fact that many of the teams competing in the tournament competed against the Eagles at the Embry-Riddle Spring Invite on March 8. The team placed third while being only one stroke away from tying for second.
