Over the weekend of Oct. 5 and 6, the Oswego State men’s golf team kicked off the fall portion of the Empire 8 Championship. After two rounds, Oswego State earned third place, behind Utica College and St. John Fisher College.

The field, in order from highest final position to lowest, was Utica College, St. John Fisher College, Oswego State, Sage Colleges, Elmira College and Nazareth College. The first- place Utica College team scored 625, to runner-up St. John Fisher College’s 632 and third-place Oswego State’s 642. The second half of the championship will take place when the golf season resumes in the spring. 

The first round, occurring on Saturday, Oct. 5, turned out well for the Lakers. Senior Erik Schleicher shot one under par for a score of 71, the highest individual score of any player in the first round. Sophomore Ryan Fecco, as well as seniors Dean Matthews and Daniel Mort were 8, 9, and 20 respectively, with respective scores of 80, 81 and 85. Head coach Mike Howard spoke in glowing praise of Schleicher’s excellent first round. 

“Erik had a phenomenal round,” Howard said. “One under par to lead the tournament on a very difficult golf course under any conditions [is great].” 

 Oswego State’s solid Saturday earned them a team score of 317 after the first round, making them tied for second place with St. John Fisher College, and four shots behind Utica College’s first round score of 313.

However, it was a tale of two rounds for Oswego State. Tied for second after the first round of golf on Saturday, the team found themselves in the middle of the six-team pack after a comparatively poor second round on Sunday. Schleicher also led the Lakers in the second round, shooting eight over for a score of 80, followed by Mort, Fecco and Matthews, shooting 81, 82 and 82, respectively. They ended Sunday with a round score of 325, for a two-day score of 642. The team seemed to collectively agree on the causes for this downturn in results – a combination of a lack of consistency as well as Sunday’s unfriendly weather conditions. 

“Sunday was a totally different day,” Howard said. “Wind, overcast, rain, with thirty mile an hour gusts, that’s going to impact the scoring.”

Besides the comparatively poor conditions on Sunday, Schleicher pointed out a lack of consistency as a reason for the team’s performance. 

“I just think it’s consistency,” Schleicher said. “That’s all we really have to work on, just playing consistent golf, because that’s what really wins it.”

Fecco also lamented the team’s showing relative to their high expectations. 

“We wanted to lead the tournament, or at least be just a few behind,” said Fecco. “We just didn’t really play to our ability, and sometimes it’s like that. Golf, sometimes you have your stuff, and sometimes you don’t.”

Although it is currently 17 shots behind the lead, Oswego State still has the spring portion of the tournament to try and make up the difference to try and win the Empire 8 Championship. Fecco, Schleicher, and Howard all offered their opinions as to what changes and improvements need to be made if they want to overtake Utica as the leader and ultimately become the Empire 8 champions. 

The mental aspect of golf seems to be an area of focus for both Schleicher and Fecco, as they noted how the second round challenged them in that area. 

“Consistency, kind of just locking it in,” Schleicher said. “I would say, a little bit [of] mental game too, just thinking more, kind of just playing some safe stuff.”

Fecco agreed with the mental aspect of golf.

“Just working on my mental game, still, just getting over things, that’s really about it,” Fecco said. “I just need to mentally get past some barriers sometimes when I’m out there, and things go wrong.”

Howard also harped on the mental and decision-making aspects, not only for the team, but for himself. 

“Overall, we need to manage the golf courses better,” Howard said. “From my standpoint, I guess I could be more vocal on those things while they’re playing … so maybe if I don’t agree with [a shot] I’ll say, ‘you need to do this,’ instead of leaving it up to them.”

Oswego State golf will begin its winter hiatus after the Nazareth College Fall Invitational on October 12 and 13 and resume the Empire 8 Championship in the spring. 

Graphic by Patrick Higgins | The Oswegonian