Looking to improve its games heading into the second Great Lakes Region Invitational Tournament, the men’s golf team finished in a tie for fourth-place at the Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational held at the Ottawa Creek Golf Club in Columbus, Ind., last weekend.

Playing without senior Matt Malloure, Grand Valley State University finished the weekend with a team score of 602, tying it with Northwood University. Wayne State University won the team championship by posting a score of 582, while Northern Kentucky University finished in second-place scoring 594.

Though the Lakers were unable to contend for the team title, GVSU head coach Don Underwood said he is optimistic about his team heading forward.

“I think we’re heading in the right direction,” he said. “Even though the numbers aren’t quite what we want them to be yet, I’m seeing improvement from these guys every day. Hopefully we will start to add up better numbers sooner rather than later, so I definitely think we’re going the right way.”

Sophomore Nick Gunthorpe led the way for the Lakers in Malloure’s absence. Gunthorpe posted rounds of 72 and 75 to finish three-over, which was good enough to earn a tie for eighth place. Wayne State senior Joe Juszczyk was the individual medalist finishing with a seven-under 137.

“(Gunthorpe) played great and I’m really happy with what he’s done so far,” Underwood said. “He played well back in the fall, but you never quite know how guys are going to come out after a five month layoff. It’s no surprise he’s doing well because he’s a hard-working kid. He’s a young player and he’s still learning how to mature and control himself on the golf course and so far, he’s done a great job with that.”

Gunthorpe said the length of the golf course was a benefit to his play during the weekend.

“It was more of a ball-striker’s course,” he said. “Because the greens were big, there were a lot of bunkers and you had to place the ball around the golf course in certain areas. I felt like I did very well on both days and hit a lot of greens. It was a good aspect to the course.”

The Lakers also got a top-10 finish from senior Anthony Provenzola, who shot two consecutive rounds of 74 to post four-over, placing him in 10th place.

The team also had to battle through rainy weather conditions in Sunday’s round.

Provenzola, however, said he thought the Lakers dealt with the situation as best they could.

“At times, it was very tough because it was just pouring on you,” he said. “None of us really had any good rounds going at all, but we all grinded through (the rain) and got some respectable numbers. We definitely improved a lot from last week’s tournament.”

The Laker team, whose members finished 20 strokes behind GLIAC-opponent Wayne State, said they are not at all concerned with the lopsided score.

“We know we can compete with them,” Gunthorpe said. “They had one player who played really well and he kind of carried his team through the tournament. We know that overall, we’re a better team than they are. If we all just play our game, we can beat them on any given day.”

The Lakers will next head to Lexington, Ky., for the Great Lakes Region Invitational. The first round will begin on Saturday and play will finish on Sunday.

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