Lions Golf Team Places 16th at Rollins Tourney

The Columbia golf team enjoyed warm weather and sun in Florida
over fall break, but not as part of pleasure trip.

The Lions headed south to compete in the Rollins College
Invitational on Monday and Tuesday in their final tournament of the
fall season. Unfortunately, the season ended on a low note as the
team finished in 16th place a field of 17 teams competing at the
Forrest Lake Golf Club.

In the first two rounds of play, Columbia dug itself into a hole. The
Light Blue shot a combined four-man score of 312 in the first
round and 322 in the second, a stroke average of just over 79 per
player. In the third and final round, a team score of 312 was not
good enough to get them out of the doldrums, and Columbia
finished with a score of 946, 82 over par and 78 strokes behind
tournament winner Florida Gulf Coast University.

The top individual finisher for the Lions was senior Nathan
Kielbasa. He shot 75-75-76 to finish with a 10 over 226. The score
was good enough to place him tied for 27th out of 85 individual
competitors.

Despite his individual finish, Kielbasa was disappointed with his
team’s performance.

“As a team we didn’t play very well,” Kielbasa said. “The conditions
were very difficult, with heavy winds. But, our play was poor on top
of that. The scores were disappointing. I couldn’t really tell you
what exactly went wrong. We just had a rough weekend as a
team.”

The next best finisher for Columbia was sophomore Nick Prost.
Prost had a respectable showing to start and to end the
tournament, going 77 and 75 in the first and third rounds
respectively. Those scores, however, bookended a high middle
round score of 84 that made Prost’s final tournament score 236.
Prost placed 64th overall.

Like his teammate Kielbasa, Prost was disappointed with the
team results at the tournament.

“We were inconsistent except for Nathan [Kielbasa],” Prost said. “I
played well my first and last round but fell apart in the middle. It
was a big disappointment.”

Prost refused to blame the conditions on the course for his poor
round.

“The wind was rough [and it was] a definite factor, but everyone
plays under the same conditions. You have to learn how to play in
the wind,” Prost said. “I was just unlucky. I lost my focus. I never
gave up, but I got angry and lost my swing. The third [hole] was
rough and it went downhill from there.”

Other Lions to participate in the tournament were sophomore Ali
Haji, first-year Darren Bolton, and junior Steve Wolfe.

Haji shot an 82 in his first round, followed by a 79 and 83 to finish
at 244, tied for 73rd. Bolton shot 81-89 before breaking 80 in his
final round with a 78. He placed 77th with a score of 248. Wolfe
shot 79-84-92 to finish 80th.

Behind Florida Gulf Coast, which won the Rollins Invitational with a
4 over 868, Rollins placed second with 878 and Valdosta State
came in third with 879.