April 21st, 2004: Men's Golf Review

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Andy Bonar

The Wittenberg men's and women's golf teams continue to play well as the season winds to a close. Both have shown marked improvement during the season, with their best showings to date coming last week.

The women hosted the first annual Wittenberg Invitational at Windy Knoll Golf Club on April 14. The Tigers finished fourth in a 9-team field that included the program's "B" team. Senior Erin Mowrey (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) turned in the Tigers' best finish, as she has in every event in their inaugural season, as she finished 10th with a 95. As a team, Wittenberg finished with a 407, good for fourth place in a field that included such established programs as Wilmington, Otterbein, Findlay, Ohio Northern and Capital.

Then on Friday and Saturday, the Tigers posted their best scores of the year at the Mount Union Invitational. On Friday, the Tigers carded their best team score ever with a 376 as all four players broke the 100-stroke plateau. En route to a sixth place finish in a strong nine-team field, Wittenberg had a two-day total of 775. Mowrey took 11th with a two-day total of 177, including a career-best 86 on the first day. Freshman Erica Bodnar (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) had her best score as she finished with a 195, good for 31st place.

With no conference tournament and no chance of earning a spot in the upcoming NCAA Division III Championships, the Tigers are playing for pride as they wrap up the season this week at Otterbein on Wednesday and at Baldwin-Wallace Saturday and Sunday.

On the men's side, the Tigers have posted good scores at each of their last three weekend invitationals, taking third in the 10-team field at the Kenyon Cup on April 4, eighth in a loaded 16-team field at the Denison Invitational on April 10 and 5th in a strong 17-team field at the College of Wooster Invitational on April 17. The Tigers have one more tuneup at Ohio Wesleyan this week before the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, which figure to be very competitive with five teams expected to challenge for the title.

One of those is Wittenberg, buoyed by a strong finish at Wooster last weekend. In a field that drew teams from three states and included seven of the nine conference schools that sponsor the sport, Wittenberg beat the host Scots and were just a few birdies away from perennial powerhouses Denison and Ohio Wesleyan.

As they have all season, junior Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) and freshman Scott Aker (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) led the charge. Bonar finished fourth with an 8-over-par 152 for the two-day event and Aker, despite turning in his first round over 79 all season, came in 16th at 157.

Bonar and Aker are both up for consideration as at-large competitors in the upcoming NCAA Division III championships hosted by the University of the Redlands in Calimesa, Calif. Top finishes in the next two weeks, while playing against ranked conference opponents Ohio Wesleyan, Denison and Allegheny, will provide a good indication of whether they belong or not.