Several young Nicholls golfers manage rounds in the 60s at HCU tournament

The Nicholls golf team may have finished 13th among 15 teams after the final round of the HCU Colin Montgomerie Invitational Monday at the Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas, but there is another set of numbers that deserve attention.

Playing with an almost all-freshmen squad, the young Colonels are producing, on occasion, some more mature numbers.

Chase Pochylko is a case in point. The freshman first among Colonel golfers at 1-under par for the tournament to finish 21st in the 80-player field. He posted rounds of 75, 73, and 67 for a 215 total in the 54-hole event.

Another Nicholls golfer, freshman Dylan Weber, also had a score in the 60s, shooting a 68 during his second round. He shot an opening-round 75 and shot 76 in his final round for a 219 total to finish 40th.

“You have first-year freshmen shooting in the 60s,” Nicholls coach James Schilling pointed out. “These are not transfer portal guys. These are not guys that are using a COVID year; guys that are red-shirted because of the COVID year. These are truly a group of young guys that are freshmen that we’ve continued to play all year and we’re starting to see some results with scores in the 60s.”

Another of the freshmen, Tommy Danielson, may not have had a round in the 60s, but he put together a competitive, and consistent performance for three rounds. He shot 71, 74, 77 to finish 50th with a 222 total.

“I’m not going to minimize a 71 from him,” Schilling said. “Tommy Danielson hardly played in the fall. Now he’s a consistent three guy and he’s putting up scores that we can count. You have to learn how to play at this level.

“They’re realizing when you’re on, you have to make hay whenever you’re having a good day, and you really have to convert. You can’t let a 67 or a 68 slip into a 71. You have to get 67.”

What the young Colonels also showed is not just an ability to shoot in the 60s in some cases, but to close the tournament with improving results. That’s something that has eluded the Nicholls golfers.

Zachary Morvant, the lone non-freshman that made up the Nicholls five-man team in the event, yet only a sophomore, was one of the golfers showing consistent improvement.

Morvant, who finished 65th, shot 77 and 75 in his first two rounds and closed with a 74 for a 226 total.

“The key is a guy like Morvant,” said Schilling. “He goes shoot 74. When you can count two out of his three rounds, that’s a guy that hasn’t played a whole lot. I basically just put him in the lineup. He has some experience, but that’s what you would hope for.

“If we can continue to get that, possibly get the third score a little bit better, keep in mind 67, 68, when you are starting to get that from your players, that can cover up a lot of other inefficiencies within the top five. That’s what we weren’t getting. We weren’t getting any scores in the 60s. It’s our first tournament where we’ve had back-to-back of those, so naturally, your scores are going to be better.”

Another freshman, Jack Moro, shot 76 in each of his three rounds to finish with a 228 total and tied for 69th.

Peyton Canter, a junior, competed as an individual for Nicholls. He shot rounds of 81, 70, and 79 for a 230 total.

“It’s a situation as a coach, you get to evaluate a player on a level playing field as the rest of the players versus having players having a practice session or whatever going on here on campus or in the area,” said Schilling. “Whenever we’re on the road, if you’re able to bring an extra player, you get an opportunity to take a look at the young man while they’re playing.

You get to evaluate them on the same parameters as the other top five players that are playing for the team score. It just gives you a bit more input on what we’re looking for, which is trying to figure out who we’re going to take in the conference tournament.”

New Mexico Junior College captured the team title of the 54-hole event at -17 and an 847 total. Nicholls finished at +16 and an 880 total.

New Mexico Junior College won the team title by edging Missouri State and Weber State. The duo finished in a tie for second with totals of 848, one shot behind NMJC. Incarnate Word was fifth at 854.

Jacob Borow of Houston took individual honors at -16 and a 200 total.

Max Bengtsson of Tarleton was second at -12 and a 204 total.

Kyle Bennett of the University of New Orleans and Grayson Gloriso of Southeastern Louisiana finished in a tie for third at -9 and a 207 total.

Alvaro Huidobro of Tarleton, Ty Anderson of Weber State, and Griffin Dorr of SLU finished it a tie for fifth at -8 and a 208 total.

The Colonel golf team has a rather large break in the schedule, not playing again until the Koasati Pines Intercollegiate on April 8-9 at Koasati Pines Golf Club in Kinder, La.

“We’ll have a short turn-around before we go to the conference tournament,” said Schilling. “It’s kind of a good spot in the season because the spring season is longer than the fall season.

You kind of want to break it up into two segments. I think it’s a good spot for us to kind of stop at this point and just let the young men focus on their academics, although they’ve done a fantastic job of that in the fall. We have a team GPA of 3.4, 3.5. That really hasn’t been an issue with this group. Let them catch their breath and get reenergized before we go to Koasati and the conference tournament.”