By Joshua Fitch
After three days in Orlando, Florida, the Youngstown State University men’s golf team completed its 2019 campaign with a third place finish in the Horizon League Championship tournament.
The Penguins carded an 899 for the tournament, which included a score of 296 on the final day of the tournament, after taking the lead halfway through the round. Wright State University, with a final round of 288, won the championship with a final score of 888. Northern Kentucky University placed in second with a 896.
The lineup included sophomores Ken Keller, Zack Ford, Kevin Scherr, C.J. Hughes and senior Jason McQuown.
Keller finished with a career-high sixth place finish, while Ford tied a career-high finish of ninth place. Scherr and Hughes each tied for 20th place and McQuown finished in 27th place.
Prior to the start of the championship tournament, Kevin Scherr earned a First Team All Horizon League spot, the league announced last week. Scherr’s 73.7 strokes-per-round average led the team after competing in all 10 tournaments this season.
Coach Tony Joy had high praise for Scherr’s accomplishment.
“It’s really great to see Kevin be recognized by the coaches as one of the best players in the league,” Joy said. “Kevin has been our most consistent player over the last two years. With him being only a sophomore, his future and the future of our program is going to be very exciting.”
Scherr is the first Penguin to earn all league honors since 2016 when Brandon Pluchinsky won the award.
For Jason McQuown, the three-round tournament was the last of his collegiate career at YSU. The accounting major from Poland, Ohio, started at in 2015 as a redshirt freshman, and has earned three athletic letters thus far during that span.
The Penguins finished the season with one first place finish at the Towson Spring Invitational in Maryland, earlier this month. The team also had four top 10 finishes throughout the season. They placed 10th at the Turning Stone Tiger Intercollegiate, 10th at the Tom Tontimonia Invitational, 8th at the Titans Motown Collegiate tournament and 10th at the Southern Intercollegiate tournament.
Though the Penguins didn’t finish where they’d ultimate like to, the future is bright with a roster made up of four sophomores and three freshman now with another year of experience under their belts.
“The future looks good,” Joy said. “It’s been competitive amongst the kids themselves. They all know that, which is why I think their games are stepping up because they know if they want to be on the traveling team, they have to play well.”
Information and stats COURTESY YSU SPORTS INFORMATION
