The Emory golf team finished 16th out of 16 teams at the Oglethorpe Fall Invitational held earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday.
The 36-hole event was won by host Oglethorpe University (Ga.), who won with a two day score of 578, edging out Southwestern University (Texas) by a single stroke. Finishing out the top five were LaGrange College (Ga.), Centre College (Ky.) and Washington and Lee University (Va.).
The leading scorer for the Eagles was sophomore Sam Nichamin, who shot a 159, placing 68th in a field of 94. Junior Vince Sirianni and freshman Keenan Hickton were a shot behind with scores of 160. Senior Alex Wunderlich shot a 161 and junior Jonathan Gerrard added a 163.
Nichamin was disappointed with Emory's performance.
"[The tournament] was realistically the worst in the school's history," he said.
Despite the poor performance, however, Nichamin said that he didn't feel it was a wasted tournament and that it could be turned into a positive experience moving forward in the season.
"Hitting rock bottom shakes things up and changes the culture on the team," he said. "If you struggle it frees you up in the future, you've seen the worst of it."
"The team played poorly on the course's par fives, despite the fact that generally they are an area of strength," Nichamin said. The Eagles played the par fives 35 shots worse than Oglethorpe.
Head Coach John Sjoberg was disappointed in his team's performance after a seemingly strong week of practice. The team was unable to translate that into a strong tournament, leaving few positives to take from the tournament.
"I couldn't remember the last time all five guys played so poorly," Sjoberg said.
Sjoberg was especially unimpressed with the team's performance at the beginning of the invitational.
"We got off to a really poor start and dug ourselves a hole in the first five holes that we couldn't get out of," he said.
The Eagles will look to redeem themselves at the Berry College Fall Invitational on Oct. 20-21.
"[We hope to] gain a little momentum going into the spring," Sjoberg said.
– By Oliver Rockman, Staff Writer
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