Capps Ties for Second Against Tough Field at BrownGolf Intercollegiate
The Sandhills Community College men's golf team competed against 13 NCAA Division II squads at last weekend's BrownGolf Intercollegiate at Foxfire Golf and Country Club and finished in a tie for seventh place.
The Flyers' Trey Capps finished at even par, and in a three-way tie for second place individually, after rounds of 73-71-144. Also in the top 10 was the Flyers' Nick Agapion who tied for seventh after posting 80-71-151.
The other scores for Coach Gus Ulrich's squad included: Grant Gilbert (T-53) 84-77-161, Ted Sluser (T-53) 79-82-161 and Nevin Bullough (65th) 82-85-167. The team score was 314-301-615.
Shkelqim Kukaj of St. Thomas Aquinas shot 70-70-140 to earn medalist honors. The winning team was Wayne State (MI) with scores of 291-297-588.
Capps, a product of Garner Magnet High School, came to Sandhills last fall after playing for the golf team at William Peace University in 2017-18.
"Being in Pinehurst and being able to practice here is just unbelievable," he said on Wednesday. "Coach Gus has really helped my game a lot. Just the abundance of golf courses in the area allows anybody who is interested in getting good at golf a chance to excel."
He was disappointed in his second round of 80 at the SCC Spring Invitational two weeks ago, but felt it was a blessing in disguise. He finished in ninth place with a 72-80-172 total in the first tournament of the spring season.
"It kind of forced me to reevaluate and fine-tune my swing," he said. "I worked a few things out and it paid off in this last tournament."
Next on the schedule is Wake Tech's Spring Eagle's Cup in Garner on March 31. That is followed by the Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate at Paradise Point in Jacksonville, NC on April 5-7 where Capps finished in a tie for third place playing for William Peace after rounds of 77-69-146 a year ago.
"We're tickled to have Trey here," Ulrich said. He's just overall a solid player, a hard worker and a good student/athlete to have on your team. "
Each tournament provides another opportunity to prepare for the NJCAA Division III National Championship in Chautauqua, NY on June 4-7. Expectations are high for a program that won the national title in 2014 and was the runner-up in 2013, 2015 and 2018.
"We could have played better each day without question, but overall I thought we made a pretty good showing," Ulrich said of last week's tournament. "We're getting some good scores, but need everybody to start pulling together a little bit better.
"If we can start shooting under 300 as a team we'll definitely contend at the national tournament. We have three tournaments left before nationals. Camp Lejeune is a great event and if we have a good showing there it will boost our confidence."
C. Bergmann
