For nearly a decade now, the men’s golf team has been at the top of the Southwest Preparatory Conference charts and this year was no different as the team won the SPC championship for the eighth time in a row.
Before SPC, the Falcons competed in a few tournaments to warm up: the Strake, Episcopal, Kinkaid, and Lost Pines tournaments. The Falcons fared well in all four warm-ups, winning the Lost Pines and Episcopal tournaments by wide margins and finishing third in the challenging Strake and Kinkaid tournaments. These early contests provided the team with good reps and experience so they could be prepared to head into SPC.
Going into the end-of-year SPC tournament at the Golf Club of Houston, Kinkaid had a very deep roster and the five golfers selected were sophomores Evan Rhode and William Mitchell, freshman Bo Van Winden and seniors Tyler Karkowsky and Ford Montgomery.
“ In golf, you cannot just have 2-3 good players to win the championship. You have to have five solid players who can play in case someone isn’t having a great day. We were lucky to have ten players who were somewhat interchangeable,” said Head Coach Bobby Eggleston.
On day one of the tournament, the Falcons played well, shooting a combined 304 points, but St. Marks trailed closely behind, with a 309, remaining within striking distance.
“We had a solid day one at Golf Club of Houston,” Rohde said. “We left a lot out there and we knew we had work to do for the next day.”
On Day 2, the conditions were worse. Wind and rain played big factors in the outcome of the round but unlike the other teams who were struggling in the conditions, the Falcons had a great round shooting a 303, one stroke better than the day before.
“It was much harder conditions as it was windy and rainy. We all battled through the conditions to beat our first-day score by one and pull ahead and win,” Rohde said.
Still, the Falcons combined 607 points was 18 strokes better than Episcopal, who finished in second place.
“ Our boys know how to keep grinding whether they are ahead or behind and this year was no exception. They fought to the very end of the tournament and came away as SPC champions once again,“ said Coach Egg.
The Falcons’ top performers in the tournament were Van Winden, who had the best score of the weekend, and Rohde, who both shot in the low 70s on the second day of the tournament to help bring home the win. Both athletes took home All-SPC honors.
“Practice makes progress,” Van Winden said. “The countless hours of putting contests and match play rounds with friends…It all led to two days of well-executed golf with the pressure of not screwing up. Shooting 75-72 is not easy, especially playing such a difficult course. I’m just happy that I contributed to the success of the team. SPC Honors is just a bonus.”
