Everyone loves an underdog story and Taylor’s men’s golf team has taken the underdog mentality and run with it.
The team has been surprising people during their fall season. Despite starting the year unranked, they end the first half of their year receiving votes for the Top 25.
The team has been on a tear this fall finishing in the top three in four of their five events. They took first at the Players Club Invitational and the Egypt Valley Intercollegiate.
The fall season is a way to see where you stack up with the rest of the country outside of your conference, head coach Lorne Oke says.
“Fall season is there to help you set up your team for the Spring,” Oke said. “We literally could go the entire season and not play another Crossroads League team until the conference tournament, which isn’t until May.”
Taylor has beaten out plenty of non-conference teams that are ranked higher than them. At the Kaiser shootout, Taylor finished sixth out of 11 teams, ahead of No. 23 Lawerence Tech and No. 25 Ave Maria.
Freshman Porter Dick finished 14th overall out of 59 competitors at Kaiser and has excelled in his first season. He shot 72 in round one, 64 in round two and 71 in round three. Dick says the transition to collegiate golf has been a seamless one but it has had its challenges.
“The biggest difference is just the amount of time we spend playing golf,” Dick said. “In high school we would just play nine holes but now we have two hour practices before we go play nine and everyone is just so much more competitive.”
Dick also now has the opportunity of living with the team around the clock and described the environmental change as a unique challenge that has been a fun endeavor.
“When we first moved in it was just us and we were spending 10-plus hours a day together,” Dick said. “It’s a really special thing. Just to have all those connections and relationships.”
Sophomore Tanner Conklin has also been impressive this season. His best performance happened on arguably one of the hardest courses the Trojans will play this season: Whistling Straits Classic in Sheboygan, WI.
The wild and unpredictable winds of Whistling Straits had no effect on Conklin as he took home fifth overall with a round one score of 73 and a round two score of 85, just two strokes behind the leader.
“Nobody is really comfortable on that course,” Conklin said. “I try to make myself comfortable though and just realize that this tournament is more of a marathon and less than a sprint.”
The Crossroads League Tournament brings a hefty crown in May with an opportunity to compete for a national title on the line. Last season, Taylor finished second in the CL behind Marian University.
This team has shown that they are not to be slept on. Heading into their spring season, the Taylor men’s golf team will have plenty of chances to surprise people and prove themselves event after invitational.
