The Creighton men’s golf team has gotten off to a rocky start this spring season, but there is still light at the end of the tunnel.
In the dual meet with North Dakota the Jays finished in second 313-328. At the Jackrabbit invitational, they finished in 13th place in the 14-team event with a combined score of 897. Creighton finished tied for 10th with Nebraska-Omaha at the 41st annual Beu Mussatto Invitational. On Monday and Tuesday, the Jays finished ninth in the 12-team COG Mizzou Intercollegiate event.
After coming off the tough 13th place finish in the Jackrabbit Invitational head coach Chris Weimers has confidence in his team that there can be a positive change for the Jays if they continue to practice hard.
“I think we need to just keep working hard and things will turn around,” Weimers said. “Golf takes practice and lots of it. We’ll be ready soon.”
Throughout the spring season sophomore Johnny Spellerberg, known by his teammates as “Stilts,” is one that has been impressing Weimers with his play so far.
“He is a fine young player,” Weimers said. “What I like about John’s game is that he knows his game and accepts it. He doesn’t try to be someone different. I think John will continue to grow and mature as a player, he could be one our best all time at CU. When he finally starts to believe how good he is, he will start to shine.”
Spellerberg has been playing well during the spring season. He said he feels that he is starting to get more comfortable as he gets his feel back for the greens.
“It was tough to get the rust off at first from the winter as usual, but now I am starting to get my feel back around the greens and starting to post a couple good scores every now and then,” Spellerberg said.
Spellerberg said he feels that his strength is his accuracy off the tee, but feels that his short game is something that he wants to improve before the season ends.
“My short game can always improve,” Spellerberg said. “I hope to have my putting in top gear in time for our conference tournament.”
The short game is also something that Weimers said he feels the entire team must improve on. Weimers said that the team’s “M.O.” has been to give up a lot of shots at the end of rounds.
“The short game takes the most amount of practice,” Weimers said. “We have been limited with practice and especially short game practice. We just need the sun to come out in Nebraska and we will be fine.”
The team will travel to Des Moines on Tuesday to take on the Drake University Bulldogs. On April 20 and 21, Creighton is competing in the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind. The Jays wrap up the spring season on April 29 and 30 with the Missouri Valley Championships in Cape Girardeau, Mo.