Ed Schwent will take fifth-place finishes for now. But the Saint Louis University golf coach knows that his golf squad has the potential for better results.
“As we keep playing and keep getting better, I’m not happy with finishing fifth (in tournaments),” said Schwent, who is in his second year of coaching. “I think we can be better.”
Fifth place is where SLU finished earlier this week at the Butler Spring Invitational. The Bills shot a team total of 607: 304 in the first round and 303 in the second.
The second round score was the second lowest team round of Tuesday, with wind and cold weather bothering most golfers.
Scott Fann carded a two-round total of a 148, good for third place overall. Brent Kerns finish one stroke behind Fann, ending up in fifth place. The rest of the SLU golfers finished below 30th place.
The two high individual scores and three subpar scores reflected how the Bills have played throughout the spring season: there hasn’t been too much balance.
“That’s the story of the spring,” Schwent said. “That’s been keeping us from doing well.”
But overall, Schwent is content with the play of the team. Sophomores Fann and Kerns have remained consistent throughout the year.
Fann has paced the Bills. In the Billikens’ three tourneys this spring, Fann has been SLU’s top golfer twice and finished in second place once.
Kerns also has done well. In the two invites that he’s entered, he has finished in second place both times. Adam Trower and Tony Zarlengo also have been solid.
“I’ve been pleased with practice and individually with the guys getting better,” Schwent said.
He added that the team will continue to get better when the players start realizing the weak points of their game.
The Billikens played in two tournaments before the Butler Spring Invitational. On March 13-14, SLU traveled to Slidell, La., for the New Orleans collegiate Classic. SLU concluded the tourney in eighth place out of 18 teams, shooting a 623 team score in two rounds.
Later that week, the Bills participated in the Treasure Coast Classic hosted by St. John’s. The Bills slacked off a little, taking 10th out of 15 teams.
This Monday and Tuesday, SLU will play in its own Billiken Invitational at Gateway National Golf Course in Madison, Ill. The field consists of 12 teams, with Southeast Missouri State, Marquette, Creighton and SLU being the top contenders.
Schwent knows that his team will do well in their own tourney, but he also hopes the Bills gain a killer instinct that will help them in the Conference USA Tournament and in the future, saying that the team has to put teams away when it can.
