My Championship Experience -- 2014 Men's Golf Edition

My Championship Experience is a diary blog written by Summit League student-athletes detailing their experiences at each of the 19 Championships.

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Rylan Porter

IUPUI sophomore Rylan Porter writes about his experience at the 2014 Summit League Men's Golf Championship:

April 19^th- Our team arrived in Dallas on Saturday afternoon. From the airport, we went to Hank Haney’s Academy to practice. After some practice, we met and talked with Hank for a couple hours. Hank has worked a lot with our assistant coach, Colby Huffman. He had lots of helpful tips and was a very nice guy. After talking with Hank, we went to Sky Creek Ranch for the banquet dinner. It was fun for me to be at the tournament for the first time and to share some laughs with my teammates before the tournament began.

April 20^th- Today, we played our practice rounds. The weather was beautiful- mid 80’s and sunny. We had a good time in the practice round and made a good plan heading into the tournament. I think overall, we were pretty relaxed. The course was in great shape other than a few spots on the greens that had been hurt by frost over the winter. After our practice rounds, we had dinner at the course and tried to stay loose before the tournament. It’s a nice course and a good location for the tournament.

April 21^st- Today was the first tournament round. Weather was nice again. As a team, we shot 296 and found ourselves in second behind Denver. Personally, I started off a little rocky, but was able to get in a groove, including making an eagle on 18. I think I was just nervous at the start, but was able to eventually shake it off. After the round, we practiced a little bit and then had dinner at the Twisted Root Burger Co.. They have awesome burgers and shakes and would recommend this place to all.

April 22^nd- The second tournament day was just as nice as the first for us as a team. We

shot 296 again, but made some ground on Denver and built an eight-shot lead heading into the final round. I carried over some momentum from the day before and kept hitting the ball well. I got a few putts to go in, but I missed a couple and left a couple shots on the course. I finished the round at 73 and felt really good about my round. We talked as a team about keeping the hammer down and needing to come out and play solid to hold off Denver. After the round, we practiced a little bit and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

April 23^rd- The final round of the tournament was another warm and sunny day although it was a little breezy. As a team, we struggled down the stretch on the back nine and ended up falling to Denver by six shots. Although we did not finish where we would have liked, my teammate and the only senior in the lineup Rob van de Vin did come in first place individually. I would like to wish him the best of luck in NCAA Regionals, as well as the Denver men’s golf team in representing The Summit League.

Overall, I enjoyed the trip and look forward to competing in the championships for years to come.

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Don’t forget to check out the next edition of My Championship Experience as it follows the Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships, April 25-27 and throughout the 2013-14 season for coverage at each of The Summit League Championships.