May 04, 2008 11:59 pm
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By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
Missouri Southern’s Lions were disappointed in their third-place showing two weeks ago in the MIAA Golf Championships at Branson Creek Golf Club.
“We had played really well and had a great spring,” coach Kevin Greim said. “We had a lot of momentum going into conference.
“At conference we did not play with the mindset that was needed. We played very tentative golf, worried about what could happen on each hole. If you don’t play your best at these events, you’re going to get left behind. We got left behind in the first round.”
The Lions are looking for a better performance at this week’s NCAA Division II Central Regional at Red Hawk Run Golf Club in Findlay, Ohio.
The Lions are seeded fourth in the regional behind Washburn, Central Missouri and Northern Sun Conference winner Winona State, Minn.
The eight-team field also includes Missouri Western, Upper Iowa, Fort Hays State and Southwest Baptist plus five individual entries, including Keith Capps of Pittsburg State.
Again this year, the Central Regional is paired with the Great Lakes Regional to form a super regional. The top team in each regional plus the second-place team with the best score advance to the national tournament in Houston. The individual not on a qualifying team also earns a national berth.
The Lions’ five-man team consists of David Eddy, Seve Smith, Ben Perry, Jamie Voegeli and Adam Nelson.
Eddy, a sophomore from Carl Junction, and Smith, a freshman from Webb City, earned first team all-conference honors.
Eddy, averaging 75.3 for 22 rounds last fall and this spring, posted his highest finishes in league points tournaments — tie for second at Central Missouri and tie for third at Truman State and Missouri Western.
“I played in a lot more tournaments this year,” said Eddy, who finished fourth in the league’s player of the year standings. “With more experience, I’m calmer this year. I know how to react when I go out and play and how to prepare myself.”
“When our qualifying started (last fall), David had a little thing in his swing where he was dropping his hands and driving through the ball,” Greim said. “He was coming down to where he would hit low shots, and he couldn’t control them.
“One day at Twin Hills, we got with him on the range, and he made this little adjustment, smoothed out a little bit at the top, and he’s hit the ball great since then. ... He has the dedication and the desire to work on his game to be really good.”
Smith averaged 74.8 for 22 rounds and wound up ninth in the league standings.
“I felt I did all right,” he said. “I had a few rounds that got away from me, but it’s been up and down. At the first of both semesters I started off slow, peaked in the middle, then I had a bad tournament at the end. We still have one more left.”
“I’m not surprised at all about Seve,” Greim said. “I had a feeling that once he finally decided where he was going to school, he would settle down and play great golf. I think that any time a kid is trying to figure out where he’s going and try to get noticed by coaches, he played under more pressure last year in high school than he did this year in college. Once he decided I’m going to Southern and I’m going to be a Lion, he has settled down and played the golf I know he is capable of playing.”
Perry has been the Lions’ top player the last two tournaments, dropping his average to 74.9. He won the rain-shortened Kansas City Intercollegiate with a school-record 6-under-par 66, then placed fourth in the conference tournament to climb into the top 20 for the season and earn honorable mention all-league.
Nelson and Voegeli have averaged 77.1 and 78.1, respectively.
The 54-hole regional starts today and continues through Wednesday.
“I’ve seen them practice well these last two weeks,” Greim said. “David and Seve did not have a good conference tournament, but they’ve had good practices since then. Voegeli is hitting the ball as well as he’s hit it all year. Adam has been working hard, and Ben is playing with a ton of confidence. I feel good about it.”
“We have a great attitude about it,” Smith said. “There are some tough teams up there, but I think we have a legitimate shot to make an impact, if not possibly qualify for nationals. Anything can happen in golf. You have to be lucky enough and good enough to peak at the right time.”
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