The Penn men's golf team was not supposed to dominate the Bradford Creek Intercollegiate Golf.
And the Quakers didn't -- hardly.
The Red and Blue finished 24th out of 25 teams in Greenville, N.C., last weekend with a combined team score of 923 for the 54-hole tournament.
By comparison, first-place North Carolina-Wilmington finished 67 strokes ahead of Penn with a composite score of 856 for the open.
"It's early in the season and we were playing in a lot of wind," Penn junior Chad Perman, who finished with a two-day total of 227, said. "It's just that some days don't go as well as others."
As for the Quakers' individually, their two-day run -- for the most part -- fell far short of the others in the tournament.
Penn's top finisher Peyton Wallace finished tied for 62nd in the field. After shooting an opening round 73, Wallace dropped off slightly, firing a 74 in the second round and a 78 in the final round.
His 225 total over three rounds amounted to an average of 75 shots per round -- 0.4 strokes less than the average.
Aside from Wallace and Perman -- the latter of whom averaged 75.66 strokes per round over the two-day span -- the remaining Quakers struggled mightily in the field.
Freshman Jeff Riley, sophomore Adam Squires and senior Trey Best finished between 115th and 119th place with composite scores ranging from 235 to 239.
Not exactly an eye-opening set of three-round totals.
"I wouldn't say that we are happy with the way we finished," Perman said. "I feel that we are a much better team than that."
Perhaps the Quakers are a better team than that which sunk to the bottom of the Bradford field.
Besides from Wallace, Perman and Brey, Penn had two comparatively inexperienced players -- Squires and Reilly -- qualify to compete in the Invitational.
As such, one of the Quakers' more veteran leaders -- team-captain senior Mike Russell -- was forced to miss the event.
"Mike Russell normally plays," Perman said. "But, this week I think we just wanted to give some other guys a chance.
"I think he will be back in there."
With or without Russell, however, Penn knows it will have to post better scores at this weekend's Princeton Invitational -- its final event before the Ivy League Championships on April 19-20.
Last season, the Quakers finished an impressive fourth place at the tournament held at the Spring Dale Country Club -- a showing Penn is hoping to improve upon this year.
But the Quakers do not approach this Ivy tune-up as they would any other non-Championship invitational.
In a sport such as golf -- in which confidence in a critical determinant in success -- a local event carries a tremendous amount of weight.
And with the Ivies nearing the importance of the Princeton Invitational is even more heightened.
"We really want to have a good tournament this weekend," Perman said. "We have done well in the past at Princeton and a good showing there will help us out a lot as we gear up for the Ivy Championships."
