Bradley men’s golf wrapped up its regular season schedule a week before the MVC Championship and based on this past week’s performance, the Braves are putting it together at the right time.
“It was really, for the first time [we’ve been in title contention],” Bradley head coach Jeff Roche said. “We were sitting eight shots out of the lead, which is not insurmountable in college golf, but we had to feel what that felt like and we hadn’t really done that going into a final round in a while.”
The Braves finished in a tie for fourth at The Stampede at The Creek at Indian Creek Golf Course in Nebraska, shooting a team score of 881 over 54 holes. The score was Bradley’s second-lowest of the entire season.
Bradley seniors Josh Kirkham and Roy Radke put on stellar performances, finishing tied for fourth and eighth overall, respectively. Kirkham fired a one-over-par 217 while Radke carded a two-over-par 218.
The eight-team field kicked off action on Monday and Bradley stormed out of the gate. The Braves finished just one-over-par, tying themselves for third with tournament host Nebraska-Omaha.
Roche credited part of the success to where the Braves were slated to begin on the course because of the shotgun start.
“We started on a stretch of the golf course that, when you look, I think it was a stretch where it was probably the hardest holes out of the field,” Roche said.
Continuing into the second round, the Braves didn’t relent their strong start. Firing a two-over-par 290, the Braves dropped to fourth after Omaha broke the tie with Bradley by putting up the tournament’s low, a seven-under-par 281.
On the final day, Bradley began to wear down with the wind howling in contrast to the day prior. The team fired a 14-over-par 302 and finished in a tie for fourth with North Dakota. The entirety of the eight-team field mimicked the Braves’ struggle, with Valley foe Northern Iowa carding the lowest team score for the round, a three-over 291.
Kirkham, in his pursuit for a fifth top-10 finish this season, carded the team low for the Braves over the tournament, shooting a four-under-par 68 in the second round after matching par the round before. His five-over-par in the final round didn’t harm his efforts though, totaling 217 and leading the Braves with a fourth place finish individually.
“I kind of eyeball-stroked it really well,” Kirkham said. “That was nice, and for the first time, kind of all spring, I had control of my start lines and felt like I gained confidence shot after shot.”
Radke picked up his second top-10 finish of the season by finishing just one shot back of Kirkham. The senior matched par his final two rounds after finishing two-over in the introductory round. His score of 218 broke his previous season high of 222 in October.
“Being able to be outside, he’s put extra emphasis on being prepared,” Roche said. “He had a good outing there last year [and] likes the course a lot, but boy, he made some great birdies.”
Both freshman Connor Hamm and graduate Luke Armbrust finished 11-over-par with identical 227 scores. Hamm started just one-over in the opening round but fired similar five-over-par 77’s while Armbrust hit his 77 early, then followed it up with a two-over-par 74 and four-over-par 76 finish.
Rounding out the action were seniors John Stillman and the sixth-man Nick Armbrust. Stillman totaled a 13-over par 229 after his two-under-par 70 in the first round. Nick finished 25-over-par with a 241 score.
With only a trip left to Coal Valley, Illinois for the MVC Championship, Roche hopes to see an extended performance from the one this past week that became the Braves lowest score in relation to par all season.
“Knowing that the goal is to finish at the top, I don’t think we really have anything to fear,” Roche said. “All you can do is go take care of what you need to do.”
The Valley championship runs from Sunday, April 23 to Tuesday, April 25 at Oakwood Country Club.
