After a long, harsh winter that took away early season practice time, the Cavalier golf team may have thought their troubles with inclement weather were behind them going into last weekend's ACC tournament.
Unfortunately for Virginia, poor playing conditions came back to haunt Virginia again in New London, N.C. The Cavaliers essentially ended their chances of winning on the first day by finishing 16 strokes behind eventual champion Clemson amidst what Virginia coach Mike Moraghan called "horrendous conditions."
Virginia finished the tournament in seventh place, shooting a 902 (+38). The Tigers took the championship with a score of 865 (+1). Senior Justin Goodhue and junior Jeremy Luce were the top Virginia performers, tying for 15th in the conference with a score of 222 (+6).
Luce shot a 3-under 69 on the final day of competition to tie for the low score of the afternoon, but said he was disappointed with the team's results as a whole.
"Going in, we had aspirations to win the tournament, so obviously seventh was a little bit disappointing," Luce said. "This is the best conference in the country for golf, so seventh place was not all that bad, but our entire team feels that we could have all played better. So, there is definitely a combination of mixed feelings about our result."
Last weekend's tournament marks the end of a difficult season for the Cavaliers, who failed to qualify for the NCAA Regionals.
"As a team we didn't accomplish what we wanted to this season," Moraghan said. "We usually win a couple tournaments and qualify for the NCAA Regionals, but it didn't happen for us this year."
Virginia featured a young lineup this season with freshmen Dan Gable, Eamon McLoughlin and Brad Tilley joining Luce and Goodhue to round out the starting five.
Tilley finished tied for 26th in the tournament with a 227 (+11). McLoughlin and Gable finished further back in the pack, shooting a 233 (+17) and a 241 (+25) respectively.
Virginia's youth may have contributed to this season's mediocre results, but the experienced gained should help the Cavaliers in the long run.
"Since we did have three freshmen in the line-up, I would say that this could viewed as a transition year," Luce said. "Next year our team should be more competitive."
Virginia's season got off to a shaky start when they were unable to defend their title at the Hawaii Fall Classic in November. The Cavaliers shot an 875 (+11) and finished fifth, eighteen strokes behind first place UNLV.
The Cavaliers struggled in February and early March, failing to place higher than ninth in any tournament. At the Furman Invitational on March 23, however, Goodhue shot a career-low 66 to help Virginia shoot a tournament-best round of 282 and climb to fourth place.
The Cavaliers were unable to convert this momentum in the ACC Tournament, repeating past results finished seventh for the fourth straight season.
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