WATERVILLE, ME

The UMPI Golf team got into the teeth of their schedule this week when they took on the Waterville gauntlet, playing 36 holes throughout the weekend at the challenging and gimmicky course. First on Saturday with the Colby Classic, and then 18 more holes on Sunday with the UMF Invitational. Day 1 was one most of the Owls golfers would like to forget while Day 2 was a huge improvement as they bettered their team score by 27 strokes.

Day 1: Colby Classic

The Owls struggled to figure out WCC for their first round of the year at the course, as only one player broke 90. Garrett Chadwick who was last year's consistent number one for UMPI who does know the course well, posted an 87 going 44 on the front and 43 on the back. Chadwick had an up and down round with a couple of big numbers but four birdies really helped him find a way to score. He made a four on the Par 5 third hole, a three on the long par 4 5th, and then added two more birdies on hole 14 and 16.

Caribou's Avery Thibodeau and Matt Pelletier were in the 90s for their first career round at the club, posting a 92 and 93 respectively. 

The Owls finished with a 369, their highest team score of the season thus far and finished 8th out of 8th.

Day 2: Farmington Invitational

Day 2 was a much different story on the same exact course as everybody improved their score significantly. The Owls settled in early this time as the game of surviving the front nine became paramount. Matt Pelletier took the low score for the Owls for the second time this season, as he posted a score of 81–a 12 stroke improvement from Saturday. Pelletier had seven pars and a birdie on the par 3 13th as he played consistent golf all day long, shooting a 41 on the front and a 40 on the back.

Garrett Chadwick had another solid round improving by four strokes to shoot an 83. He made 6 pars throughout the day, going 43/40 for his splits. Spencer Harman, a veteran to Waterville Country Club, shot an 89, a day after posting a 97. Avery Thibodeau also improved, shooting an 89 as well. Luke Beidelman, another Caribou native, made his first career start posting a solid round of 91, though the Owls wouldn't need his score as they posted a team score of 342, a dramatic improvement from the previous day. UMPI beat out St. Joseph's College to finish 7th out of 8 teams.

Next Up: 
The Owls will begin a busy week with the Mariner Invitational on Tuesday, followed by a home match on Thursday.