Plenty of golfers score better in second round at college golf championships

By Sean Rooney on October 18, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

For Nicole Schultz, it was chipping in from the sand.

For Derek Whitson, it was finally making a birdie.

And for Thomas Code, the turning point at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association golf championships at Desert Blume came when he made the turn.

“I was out of my mind, I wasn’t thinking about anything, just cruising,” said Code, the second-year player from Fanshawe College in London, Ont. who finished birdie-par-eagle-birdie-birdie Wednesday. “It felt easy. It’s always fun when it feels easy.”

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Code’s 5-under 67 wasn’t just 12 shots better than his Tuesday score, it was tied for best of the day in the second round. Cegep Andre-Laurendeau’s Philip Isabelle also had a 67 on a day when perfect scoring conditions saw lots of turnaround performances.

“Today on 10 I jarred it in the water, hit into the bunker but holed out from the bunker for par,” said Schultz, whose 86 was five better than her opening-day 91. “So that was hole of the day right there for me, that got me rolling and fired up. Then I went from there.”

Schultz could’ve gone even lower, putting up bogeys or worse on eight of her first nine holes. But the Medicine Hat College Rattler settled down to shoot 38 for her last nine, and in the process helped her team keep pace with Red Deer College. The Queens have a three-shot lead mid-way through the week.

“Right now I’m not really focusing on the leaderboard at all, it’s just one day at a time,” said Schultz. “Right now I’m just playing my game and not letting that worrying me at all.”

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There’s certainly been some added attention and pressure on the Rattlers women, who entered the tournament seeded second and boast plenty of nationals experience. Becky Martin fired a 7-over 79 to sit six back of John Abbott’s Emily Romancew, while Sierra Zukowski is 11th after a second-round 83.

Red Deer leads thanks to great showings from Chloe Sies and Bradie Ouelette-Pillman, while veteran Shaye Leidenius is tied for third individually after a second-straight 79.

“I was making putts today, on the first hole made a good putt to save par,” said Leidenius, in her third nationals. “I had a couple rough holes but for the most part kept in play, tried to make pars.”

On the men’s side, Humber’s Conner Watt shot a 68 to sit alone in the lead at 5-under, two better than a trio including defending champion Daniel Campbell (University of Fraser Valley, B.C.) and Andre-Laurendeau (Quebec) players Olivier Ménard and Laurent Desmarchais. Isabelle is tied for fifth and Code tied for 11th. Andre-Laurendeau and Humber are tied atop the team standings, 17 strokes ahead of UFV.

Whitson and the Rattler men are nowhere near the top of the leaderboard, but they did a full 19 shots better (three of four scores counting on each hole) in Round 2 to get out of last place.

“Our approach was we can only go up from here,” said Whitson, whose 76 was nine shots better than his Tuesday score. “I just needed one to get started, I feel like I know I can do it here. Deep down I knew I could, but now I’ve posted it. Monkey’s off the back and hopefully we roll from here.”

After a birdie on the 13th hole Tuesday — his first as a college golfer — the two-time Paralympian built on his momentum with some extra motivation. Birdies and eagles during the tournament from all players are going to help out the Medicine Hat Adaptive Sport and Recreation, which Whitson — who has cerebral palsy — is heavily involved with. His fiancee Tara Chisholm started the association, which will get $1 per birdie and $5 per eagle from sponsor TSG Insurance.

“It’s funny because every time I missed a birdie putt, I got pretty upset,” said Whitson, who indeed had an eagle putt on 11 but settled for a birdie. “The guys didn’t know what was going on, it’s still a par. I then told them Tara and I run this organization. I started dropping them in after that.”

It was hard for anyone to be sour on a day the temperature soared into the 20-degree Celsius range and winds died down a bit. That’s not expected to continue, but there were a lot of players sporting shorts and almost none with the toques that were seen on opening day.

No doubt Code hopes the hot streak can continue. He was fourth at nationals last year.

“I think it’s the best week in Canada,” he said. “My goal of the day was to play a little smarter, not get ahead of myself. I felt I did a good job of that.”

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