Golf team outlasted in Region IV Tournament

By: Matt Daniels

Posted: 10/28/09

Three straight days of playing 18 holes on the Prairie View Golf Course in Byron, Ill. left the Madison Area Technical College golf team in an all but too familiar place. The WolfPack found themselves in second place (948) and 13 strokes behind Region IV champion Rock Valley College (935).

MATC finished behind Rock Valley College four times this season. MATC has also finished in second place six times while winning one invite in nine tries this season.

On Oct. 2, just one week before the Region IV Tournament, MATC finished in second place at the Prairie View Classic, which happens to be the same site as the regional tournament. More importantly, MATC finished ahead of their biggest rival this season, Rock Valley College. Unfortunately, that same success did not carry over into the three-day regional tournament.

Despite coming up short of qualifying for the national tournament, co-head coach Bill Scheer was proud of his team's effort. The conditions were less than favorable for the entirety of the tournament, which included temperatures in the thirties and forties with rain and a light mix of snow. But the weather is not an excuse for coming up short of reaching the national tournament. The course was still playable and all four teams had to deal with the poor weather conditions.

MATC and Rock Valley College were tied after one round of play, and on the second day, the WolfPack found themselves seven shots behind the Golden Eagles. MATC stayed resilient in the final round of the tournament and by Scheer's count were either tied or had a slight advantage going into the final nine holes. Unfortunately, MATC could not hang on down the stretch and came up short of reaching the tournament.

"The guys played in really difficult conditions, they never gave up, they really wanted to go to the national championship as a team," said Scheer. "They put a little too much pressure on themselves during the last nine holes."

While the team fell short of reaching the national championship, there were a few bright spots at the Region IV Tournament. Evan Wartgow made a spectacular shot on hole 17 by shooting a hole-in-one.

"I would say for the specific shot itself it's 50 percent skill and 50 percent luck, said Scheer, "but Evan hit a great shot on that hole and certainly the better the shot you hit, the better chance you have of hitting that shot in the hole."

The other plus that MATC can take away from the Region IV Tournament is that while the team will not be competing for a national championship, Andrew Steinhofer will get the chance to represent MATC and compete at the national championship as an individual June 7-11 in Chautauqua, N.Y. SteiProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ofer was awarded the chance to compete at the national championship for posting the best individual score at the Region IV Tournament. He shot a 227 over the course of the three 18-hole rounds.

Steinhofer stands as good of a chance as any golfer to finish with the best score at the national championship. "Andrew can definitely play at a higher level than what we play at," said Scheer.