Golf can't blast its way out of last-place trap

The sun that shone in California quickly disappeared as the Quakers began their spring season with a performance far below their expectations. Competing at the Liberty University Invite Monday and Tuesday in Virginia, the Penn golfers placed seventh out of the seven-team field, shooting a 36 hole score of 634 (320-314) to finish 22 shots behind the eventual winners from the University of Cincinnati. The performance was clearly unexpected, but the Quakers seem optimistic that this will serve as a wake-up call for their next event. Course conditions were fine all week, and the players admit they did not performed as they had planned. "We did not perform up to expectations," senior captain Adam Bradshaw, who led the Quakers by shooting 155 in two rounds (11 over par), said. "We will be ready in two weeks to do well at Navy, which we will need to do to have any chance at advancing to the NCAA Championships." Also competing for Penn were sophomore Rob Goldfaden, who shot 159 (15 over par), freshman Kyle Moran shooting 160, sophomore Chris Kyrle, 160, and freshman Todd Golditch. While only the top four of five scores count for each day, Penn was hampered by the disqualification of Golditch's score on his Monday round. The freshman fell victim to a questionable marking of the course and misidentified a lateral hazard, one of a number of golfers who made the same mistake. Golditch went on to shoot a 78, but due to his rules infraction was disqualified, forcing the Quakers to use the fifth score as one of their official scores. While Penn had hoped to start the season off with more of a bang, they remain hopeful that come April 3 the tide will turn at the Navy Invitational. "We are looking forward to our next tournament -- we will take these as learning experiences and move forward," said head coach Francis Vaughn.