Sports

Darton 19 shots back

• The Cavaliers’ bid for their fourth consecutive national title gets off to a rocky start as Darton sits 19 strokes behind of Tyler, Texas’ team after Day 1.

Greg Demmitt
Special to The Herald

PHOENIX — The Darton College men’s golf team has its work cut out for it if the Cavaliers have any hope ofcapturing their fourth consecutive NJCAA Division II National Championship.

On Day 1 on Tuesday, the Cavaliers struggled in the increasingly high winds and 108-degree temperatures to a six-over 294 while Tyler (Texas) Junior College fired a possible tournament record 275 (yet to be verified) to lead by 19 strokes at the Palm Valley Country Club in Goodyear, Ariz.

Tyler’s Blaine Weiterman shot a 10-under 62 to lead all players.

“We’re tickled to death,” Tyler coach Sandy Terry said.

Cavs coach Dale Dover stood in earshot of Terry’s comment, then added with a laugh:“You ought to be. That’s a tournament record. It’s got to be.”

Dover’s Cavs, which entered the tournament with the nation’s No. 1 ranking, sure didn’t look like the best team in the land Tuesday.

“I don’t know how we got the number one seed and they didn’t,” he said referring to Tyler. “It had to be based on reputation.”

That seeding oddity might end up making a big difference in the tournament, as Tyler, ranked first by Golf Stat, didn’t even make the final pairing. Meanwhile, the first Darton golfer, Evan Hanna, didn’t tee off until almost 1 p.m. and the winds picked up as the Cavaliers approached the back nine.

“The wind got a lot harder out there,” said Chesley Gunn, who finished with a two-over 74 — one of four team members that failed to shoot under par with Matt Smith’s 71 being Darton’s best score after Round 1 . “We started getting it on the back nine. By then Tyler and Mesa (Arizona Community College) were on the last three holes.’

Mesa is second with 287. Southeast (Neb) Community College is third with 290.

Darton finished ahead of the other two top-seeded schools in its pairing, John A. Logan (Ill), 297, and Mott (Mich) Community College, 305.

“We’ve got to have some help now,” Dover said. “You can’t win it all on the first day but you can lose it. We’ve probably got to beat them every day now.”

Smith’s 71, meanwhile, made him one of 10 golfers to break par on the day.

“I thought I played pretty well but I didn’t get much out of it,” the sophomore Smith said. “I had to get up and down all day.

“We just have to take it one day at a time. We can’t control the outcome. Each one of us just has to take care of his own game.”

Hanna had one bad break that might have cost him a below-par round. He took an eight on the par-5 11th after hitting the edge of the green with his second shot. He then rolled off into a hazard and after a penalty stroke trying two drops, he placed the ball and walked away to look at the green.

The wind blew the ball back into the hazard, resulting in another penalty stroke. He finished with a 75.

Jin Chung, currently ranked fifth in Division II, had six birdies, eight bogeys and only four pars for a 74. Coleman Calhoun struggled to a 77.

“Hopefully we got our bad game out of the way (Tuedsay) and we can shoot a really low score (this) morning,” Calhoun said.

Darton won’t have to wait long to find out if it has turned its game around. The Cavaliers wrapped up their round at nearly 6 p.m. Tuesday evening and tee off at 6:30 a.m. this morning.

More Sports>>