Several young Colonel golfers show improvement at Gulf Coast Collegiate

With three of its five golfers improving each round of the 54-hole event, Nicholls showed improvement over past outings by finishing 12th out of 16 teams in the Gulf Coast Collegiate tournament that concluded Monday at English Turn in New Orleans.

“We played better this week,” Nicholls coach James Schilling said. “I wasn’t happy with how we played that first round, but in the teams that I’ve had in the past that have had some success, they tend to get better and improve each round. I think we kind of did that even though the conditions were tough. It’s probably the toughest conditions we’ve had all year.”

Chase Pochylko finished tops among Colonel golfers, posting rounds of 77, 76, and 75 for a 228 total to finish in a tie for 20th in the 91-player field.

Finishing behind Pochylko for Nicholls was Jack Moro, who tied for 39th (80, 78, 76 – 234), Dylan Weber tied for 55th (84, 79, 74 – 237), Thomas Danielson tied for 66th (77, 82, 81 – 240), and Diego Prat Cruza 90th (86, 88, 88 – 262).

Pochylko, Moro, Weber, and Danielson are all freshmen. Prat Cruza is a junior college transfer in his first year at Nicholls.

Behind three players finishing among the top five, Memphis finished first in the event with an 880 title, topping second place Incarnate Word, which finished with a team total of 890.

Host UNO placed third with a total of 896. Houston Christian was fourth at 909, and Stephen F. Austin was fifth at 914.

Along with UNO, Houston Christian, and Nicholls, fellow Southland Conference schools Southeastern Louisiana and Texas A&M-Commerce also took part in the event. SLU finished sixth with a team total of 915. Commerce finished with a 937 total to edge Nicholls by two strokes for 11th place.

“The course this week was playing very difficult,” said Schilling. “The greens were extremely fast and firm. We had a lot of wind as well. If you look at the winning score as a team and individual, it was much higher than normal. It just shows what the conditions can do.”

For the Colonels to move up on the leaderboard as a team, they need to do better on the par-5s, according to Schilling.

“Analyzing the six tournaments that we’ve played, the quickest way that we’re going to catch and make up some gap with the Southland schools is going to be we have to improve our par-five play,” the Nicholls coach said.

“Every golf course that you play, you’re going to have, and this one is no different at English Turn, 18 is difficult, 14 is difficult, 10, 9, those are hard holes. The par fives, you have enough leeway in there to at least play them around even par,” Schilling continues. “We improved today, but we still didn’t do it well enough. But overall, I do know that we improved this week.”

While several of the Nicholls golfers improved each round, there needs to be more consistency throughout the entire lineup, according to Schilling.

“We’ll make another adjustment with the lineup to try to get more production out of the four and five spot. That is the glaring weakness that we kind of have right now. We’re just not good enough week to week, top to bottom,” Schilling said.

Memphis golfers claimed the top two spots.

Diego Lourenco won the event, shooting rounds of 72, 71, and 73, to finish with an even-par total of 216. He edged teammate Jack Tanner, who was +1 with rounds of 72, 73, and 72, for a 217 total.

Matt Weber of UNO was third at +2 (74, 72, 72 – 218), Seth Graber of Texas A&M-Commerce was fourth at +3 (75, 70, 74 – 219), and Yixiang Wang of Memphis was fifth at +4 (76, 75, 69 – 220).

Next for Nicholls is the HCU Colin Montgomerie Invitational at the Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas.

“I want to keep playing. We need to keep playing,” Schilling said. “It’s hard when you’re playing that many freshmen. You have to keep putting them in that environment to compete and learn what it’s like for the 36-hole days to keep your concentration to hold things together to do what you need to do.”

The Colin Montgomerie Invitational is a tournament where the Colonels have had success in the past.

“We finished third there last year in about a 17-team field,” said Schilling, “Again, with a different makeup than we’ve had. We had some older guys last year. We have a very, very young team this year, but I saw some good things this week and I’m glad we’re getting back out on the road immediately.”