Paul Pizza
The Paw Print
The Adams State Grizzlies hosted their annual Grizzly Invitational last week. The tournament is in Ryder Cup format, meaning the two teams competing have head to head matchups; the winner of the hole would get 1 point for the team.
On the first day of action (Tuesday), the competition played 36 holes. Each player had a partner from their own team for 18 holes and played against two players from the other team. It was a best ball format, meaning the best score of each team was put up against the best score from the opposing team. The teams then switched partners for the second 18 holes.
On Wednesday, the format of the tournament was match play. Match play is a head to head type game, the player that has the lower score on the hole goes one up, and vice versa for the loser of the hole.
At the end of 18 holes, the player who has won the most holes, gets a point for their team.
On Tuesday, Mesa State jumped out to an early lead, taking 2 ½ points out of the possible 3, leaving the Grizzlies with only ½ point.
The lone half point for the Grizzlies came from Mic Davis, who tied in is his singles match.
Grizzly Senior Ross Benson is the number one man for the team, who lost his opening match vs. Mesa’s Brandon Bingaman, the overall champion of the tournament. Benson finished the tournament with a total of ten birdies in the two days of competition. Benson’s score of 212 was the best in his Grizzly career, only 9 shots back of the tournament champion, Bingaman.
One of the most exciting matches of the day included Grizzlies Josh Crow, and Mesa’s Blake Rollins.
Crow had a two hole lead through the first 14 holes, but Rollins made a late comeback, winning three of the final four holes to win the match and give the Mavericks the point.
The Grizzlies had two true freshman in the mix, both making their collegiate debuts. Gorell fell down by three, just four holes in to the match, but came back and tied that match after ten holes. On the eleventh hole, Gorell fell behind again, but didn’t give up.
Down the stretch, both Gorell and his opponent went neck and neck, each matching each other for the final holes and Gorell falling just short of Jeb Savage. The second of the two freshman was Niko Mircos.
Mircos took on Eric Farmer of Mesa. Farmer came out on fire through the first eight holes, winning them all and eliminating Mircos’ chance of winning after 14 holes. The lone sophomore for the Grizzlies, Jimmy Hood, lost his match as well. The Grizzlies lost the match 10 ½ to 1 ½ to the much more experience Mavericks team.
“We have a lot of talent on the team, we just need to keep practicing and working things out and I’m sure we will come around,” said Sophomore Jimmy Hood following the conclusion to the tournament.
What’s Been Said…