Kirchner, Schwomeyer medal as VU places second at Spring Invitational

MONTGOMERY, Ind. – Vincennes University sophomore Bryce Kirchner (North Vernon, Ind.) and freshman Paxton Schwomeyer (Oakland City, Ind.) finished in the top-three on the leaderboard at this weekend's Vincennes University Spring Invitational at Country Oaks Golf Club in Montgomery.

Kirchner placed second with a first round 75 on Saturday and an 80 on Sunday. Schwomeyer finished two shots back in third after a 77 Saturday and an 80 on Sunday after battling the windy conditions all weekend.

"Bryce has been steady all year long for us," VU Golf Coach Dennis Chattin said. "He won the last tournament, really wanted to win this one obviously too. Both Bryce and Paxton caught a gust of wind on 13 today that put their ball out of bounds and both guys had two holes that basically ruined their rounds. Bryce played 16 holes at one-over and the other two holes today he had a triple and a quadruple bogey, which are not the types of things that Bryce Kirchner normally does."

"But it's the circumstances and the wind caught him and the same thing happened to Paxton on that hole as well," Chattin added. "We moved the tees up today to let the guys have some fun today and see if some of the guys could drive some of the par fours like they do in the pro tournaments and sometimes greed maybe enters in too. Guys were trying to drive it to the green, which I didn't have a problem with, but the wind caught that ball off an elevated tee and the wind had more control over that shot than they did."

"Both Bryce and Paxton, I thought, played pretty well. They just happen to catch two bad breaks on two holes and that's golf sometimes," Chattin said.

The pair helped guide the Trailblazers to a tie with Danville Area CC for the top spot on the team leaderboard, but the Jaguars came away with the tiebreaker as VU places second as a team.

All nine VU golfers were in action over the weekend, with team A led by Kirchner and Schwomeyer, ahead of freshmen Luke VanDeventer (Columbus, Ind.), Sam Stewart (Floyds Knob, Ind.) and Adam Leach (North Vernon, Ind.).

Team B for Vincennes was freshmen Caleb Maris (Terre Haute, Ind.), Caleb Newman (Vincennes, Ind.) and Garrett Hulfachor (Lawrenceville, Ill.) with sophomore Jackson Roberts (Chesterton, Ind.).

Sam Stewart was the third lowest scorer on the Vincennes 'A' team, ending with an opening round 85 and a final round 83 good for a tie for 10th place.

Luke VanDeventer had a very consistent tournament, with an opening round 85 and second round 86 to place him in a tie for 14th.

Adam Leach rounded out the VU 'A' team scorers, ending with a first round 90 and a second round 92 to place him in 32nd.

The VU 'B' team was led by Caleb Maris, who put in a very solid performance this weekend, shooting an 84 on Saturday and an 88 on Sunday.

Jackson Roberts was the next lowest scorer with an opening round 92 and had the largest improvement of any VU golfer with a second round 87.

Caleb Newman finished right behind him with a first round 89 and a final round 91 and Garrett Hulfachor rounded out the tournament for the blue and gold with a first round 95 and a second round 92.

"As I told the team after the round today, the wind makes a huge difference," Chattin said. "Golf is unique, in that you don't get to play the same shot twice ever because of things like the wind. We played a little better this weekend. We played a little bit deeper to have a lead after the first round and the wind just did a lot of things to golf balls today."

"I told one of the other coaches, when we see pros that cannot hit a green in the wind, sometimes I think we are a little too hard on ourselves when we can't hit a green like that," Chattin added. "But it's just something, like all shots in golf, you have to learn how to do that. But it's not something that you do every day, so that makes it tough."

The Trailblazers will look to build on this weekend's performance as they prepare for the Region 24 Championships starting on Monday, May 2 and concluding on Tuesday, May 3, held at Dalhousie Golf Course in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

"This tournament this weekend will test you as a golfer and a good test going into a good tournament is a good thing," Chattin said. "I guess if you want to compare it to other sports, we had some pretty good defense played against us today with the conditions. That's a good thing going into a tournament and it will be interesting to see."

"Dalhousie Golf Course is a strong golf course that is hosting the Ohio Valley Conference tournament starting today," Chattin added. "I'm anxious to see how their scores are. The first time we played that course earlier this year, we did not have a practice round and it is definitely a course that you need to practice on. So we are heading over there Sunday for a practice round, so we will have two rounds on the course before the tournament starts."

VINCENNES RESULTS

TEAM RESULTS

Danville Area CC – 327, 324 – 651

VINCENNES – 322, 329 – 651

Rend Lake – 327, 330 – 657

Oakland City – 334, 341 – 675

Lincoln Trail – 348, 340 – 688

Lincoln Trail (B) – 358, 359 – 717

VINCENNES (B) – 360, 358 – 718

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Bryce Kirchner (2) – 75, 80 – 155

Paxton Schwomeyer (3) – 77, 80 – 157

Sam Stewart (T10) – 85, 83 – 168

Luke VanDeventer (T14) – 85, 86 – 171

Caleb Maris (T18) – 84, 88 – 172

Jackson Roberts (28) – 92, 87 – 179

Caleb Newman (29) – 89, 91 – 180

Adam Leach (32) – 90, 92 – 182

Garrett Hulfachor (T36) – 95, 92 - 187