Men’s golf team poised to shine at start of season

Shane Vicry
Triangle Reporter

The Bryan College Men’s golf team looked to get their season kick-started at last weekend at the Berea College Invitational in Berea, Ky. The Lions finished at the bottom of team competition in their first three tournaments as they continue to really be hampered by eligibility issues, but appeared primed to turn the tide in a big way at Berea’s Battlefield Golf Club.

Top seeded Bryan sophomore, Dean Hoare arrived as the tournament’s defending champion with teammates Ian Long (9th) and Adam Forgey (3rd) both boasting top 10s from last year’s effort as well. With all the positive energy from 2010 still resonating around this links style design, the Lions were confident this was the perfect place to get things rolling in 2011.

Previous to the tournament, third seeded Long who had ridden his new Guerin Rife putter to 3 consecutive top 15s predicted “the goal this weekend should be to all finish inside the top 5.”

Forgey, who is still getting used to some new Titleist Vokey Wedges he added to the bag this year, maintains he “always expects to win individually.”

Forgey, as well as his teammates, were playing a course in Berea that demanded “spot on short iron play to take home the title” according to Hoare, as he said “the greens were expected to be fast and not very receptive.”

Hoare, who missed out on qualifying for Nationals by a single stroke in the spring, was up to the task at Berea last year, and it seemed his stiffest competition in his quest to repeat individually would come from none other than Forgery and Long.

As it turned out, Hoare and Forgey narrowly missed out on their winning bids, finishing in a tie for 2nd, a stroke back of Larry Warren of Indiana East who earned medalist honors with a 68. Long finished tied for 7th with a 74.

Despite coming up just short of producing Bryan’s first win of the year, strong finishes from all three guys were welcome results for the Bryan golf program seeking to build momentum as they look forward to the spring semester when they will be rejoined by their fourth and fifth seeds. With the return of Kris “Columbus” Brett and “Ram Bam” Ramsey Kimbrough, Hoare believes the squad will have the ability to bump heads with the top teams in the conference.

The guys, who Hoare (an Australian native) describes as a “top bunch of blokes,” are all striving to meet the team goal of winning the conference and representing Bryan at Nationals. The results at Berea could go a long way in building toward that goal.

The golf team is coached by Peter Bollant and finished sixth in last year’s AAC conference tournament.