Danielson finishes as top Nicholls individual golfer in Bentwater Intercollegiate tourney

Nicholls finished last among 13 teams in the Bentwater Intercollegiate golf tournament on Tuesday in Montgomery, Texas, in the Colonels’ first event of the spring season.

“Not to say that you expect to finish where we did in that field, but somewhat predictable based upon the caliber of the teams,” Nicholls coach James Schilling said. “Still not enough consistent play throughout the lineup, especially not only within three rounds, but from within each round, too.”

The top individual for Nicholls was Thomas Danielson, who shot a 226 total over three rounds on the par-71 course to finish in a tie for 46th out of 80 participants. Danielson had rounds of 78, 75, and 73 for his 226 total.

“Tommy Danielson, I thought, really showed some life there, especially during portions of his round where he was able to kind of help the team with scores. He was our low scorer this tournament and that wasn’t really expected. That was good to see somebody new getting not only some more tournament experience because he hasn’t had a whole lot of experience but be able to help the team and kind of score of each round,” said Schilling.

Behind the strength of three golfers finishing in the top 10, Sam Houston State ran away with the team title with a 3-over total of 855. Western Kentucky finished second with a -20 total of 872.

“Sam Houston did separate themselves, but that’s their home event and a course that they play quite frequently,” Schilling said.

Sam Houston State’s Josh German captured top individual honors, shooting a 7-under 206 total, edging Tarleton State’s Max Bengtsson, who shot five-under par.

Rounding out the top five were Cameron Hubbard of Stephen F. Austin, who was 4-under, Luke Fuller of Western Kentucky at 1-over, and Hampus Wijkstrom of Missouri State, who finished at even par.

Finishing behind Danielson for Nicholls was Jack Moro, who tied for 54th (73, 82, 74 – 229), Chase Pochylko tied for 68th (77, 77, 81 – 235), Dylan Weber was 76th (81, 82, 81 – 244), and Peyton Canter 77th (86, 80, 79 – 245).

“With Jack, if you look at his scores, again, a true freshman when he first started to where he is now, maybe we’re still not at the three-round stage, but now we’re getting two of the three. The same thing with Chase,” said Schilling. “This is what we’ve talked about since we started last semester with this team is building and how long can you string together rounds, three out of three, not one out of three, not two out of three good, but three out of three.

“That’s when you see a golf team going from the bottom third of the field, to the middle part or upper. That’s when you are going to be able to see the team competing better as a team, not just individually.”

Among teams, finishing behind Sam Houston State and Western Kentucky in the top five was Texas-San Antonio with a plus-23 875 total, Stephen F. Austin with a plus-26 878 total, and Texas-Arlington with a plus-30 882 total.

Rounding out the remaining teams were Midland Community College with a plus-32 884, tied for sixth was Tarleton State and Southern Illinois tied for seventh with a plus-34 886 total, Missouri State was ninth with a plus-35 887 total, Rice finished 10th with a plus-41 893 total, and UT-Rio Grande Valley was 11th with a plus-909 total.

Fellow Southland Conference member Texas A&M-Commerce finished one shot ahead of Nicholls for 12th place with a plus-77 929 total.

“Overall, with the young team finishing right there with Commerce, that’s kind of my evaluation point,” Schilling said. “Playing Conference-USA and Sun Belt schools, well that’s fine and you want to see how you measure up, I think you see how both of the programs measured up this week with the team finishes.”

The experience gained from the Bentwater Intercollegiate, Schilling said, will help the team moving forward.

“I think their attitude is really good. I think the preparation was good,” the Nicholls coach said. “Again, doing it on the road is kind of a different thing. For the guys who scored that we counted two or three rounds, they’re going to be a bit more comfortable going forward to English Turn, I would like to think because they already have these rounds under them.

“Some of the guys that maybe qualified well, but we didn’t count as many of the scores or they struggled on the road, they’re going to have to go back and kind of reevaluate, ‘OK, what’s causing the play at home to be one way and the a little bit higher on the road?’”

The Nicholls team will be back in action Feb. 26-27 when the Colonels play at English Turn in the Gulf Coast Collegiate hosted by the University of New Orleans.