When the Saint Louis University golfers looked out the windows of their rooms on Tuesday morning, they had to have smiles on their face. It was a beautiful day for golf, and better yet, the team only stood in fifth place in the Billiken Invitational, ready to make a strike for the title.

But their smiles turned into frowns as soon as they stepped outside. That’s when the team realized that it would have to struggle with gusty winds on the second and last day of the tourney.

“In the first round, I thought we were in pretty good shape,” said coach Ed Schwent. “(But) it was a pretty tough second day.”

SLU shot a team score of 297-320 for a total of 617, placing them in seventh.

SLU started out the invitational by shooting a team score of 297, 11 strokes behind Marquette. Adam Trower, who shot a 71, and Scott Fann guided the Bills to the first round total.

But in the second round, the wind got to every team. No team finished the round below 300.

“I thought we probably should have played a little better the second day, even with the wind,” Schwent said. He said that part of the Billikens’ poor score could be attributed to the team trying to force shots.

Trower finished in sixth place, shooting a 150 for the tourney. He was 10 strokes above par. Fann ended up in 12th place, one stroke behind

“I thought Adam and Scott had a pretty good chance to win the tournament,” Schwent said. “They probably thought about that too much.”

Next up for SLU is the Conference USA tournament April 15-18 in Navarre, Fla. Schwent thinks that SLU could compete in the tournament, but that the golfers will have their hands full with Houston and UAB.

“I think if we play good we can compete with those teams,” Schwent said.