By Harrison Leone
Sports Assignment Editor
Part of what attracts fans and athletes to sports is the element of rivalry. Teams that reside in the same neighborhood (Ohio State vs. Michigan) or have a long history of competition and animosity (Yankees vs. Red Sox) develop almost personal grievances that make their matchups all the more intriguing.
For a sport such as golf, in which the athletes are playing as much against themselves and the course as they are the other golfers, rivalry takes on a different character than the head-to-head brawls of other sports. With the Little Three Invitational up next for the golf team, the nature of rivalry on the links is as pertinent as ever.
“It’s such a friendly game, and also at the same time at most tournaments, you’re playing against 10 other teams, so ultimately you just have to play the course and see how things stack up at the end,” Coach John Powers said. “You can really go out and say, ‘we’ve really got to beat this one team,’ you might beat them and still lose to other schools.”
The invitational will be tomorrow, at the Pine Acres Country Club in Bradford, Pa. At last season’s event, played at the Harvest Hill Golf Course in Orchard Park, the Canisius Golden Griffins took home the victory. St. Bonaventure finished nine strokes off the pace, shooting 599 to Canisius’ 590. Niagara came in a distant third with a collective score of 625.
“I would say Canisius is our biggest rival between the two teams,” Powers said. “Us and them have kind of traded shots at each other over the past couple of years. We’ll get the upper hand in one tournament, and they’ll get it in the next, so that’s been a pretty good rivalry. Both of us have gotten the better of Niagara pretty much consistently for the past.”
The battle between these three private Western New York schools may not determine golf supremacy for the region, but Powers said he believes St. Bonaventure’s golf squad to be a team on the rise. The third-year coach also said he believes there to be both competitive parity and general improvement among the nearby golf programs.
“Any of the teams (in the region) can beat each other on a given day,” Powers said. “A few years ago, we weren’t beating Canisius and Robert Morris and Bucknell and Colgate or Cornell on a regular basis. Last year and this year, we’re all at approximately the same caliber, so it makes for good competition.”
The team closed last weekend’s Cornell Invitational with a 10th place finish out of 15 schools after a final-round setback that saw them shoot 14 strokes higher than the second round on Sunday morning. This marked the lowest tournament finish for the Bonnies this season, who had finished in sixth and second place respectively in their previous two tournaments.
“We’ve had a tournament that we were very happy with, we had a tournament we were kind of happy with and we’ve had a tournament we weren’t so happy with,” Powers said.
The team was once again led by Josh Stauffer, who shot eight under par at 220, good for a sixth place individual finish. Stauffer was followed by Darren Simons, Scott Brady and Trent McPherson on the Bonnies’ score card. Powers said his team needs to be able to card strong rounds consistently throughout a tournament.
“Consistency is one of the key things we’re looking for,” Powers said. “We still have a young lineup, so once guys settle in and get comfortable, it’ll really make a difference top to bottom.”
Powers added he believes his team is still in the process of identifying where its strengths lie and how it may be able to improve going forward.
“‘In progress’ is a good way to describe our season so far. We’re looking to take little steps in the right direction each tournament, trying to learn from each one and see how we can get better,” Powers said. “It’s still early in the season, we’re still trying to pinpoint who our best five are, and we’re looking to take steps in the right direction and finish the fall season off on a good note and have something to go off moving into the spring.”
