(Chautauqua, N.Y.) After a three-hour rain delay held up the first round of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III national championship tournament, Butler County Community College freshman golfer Troy Loughry bogeyed the par-4 No. 1.
The Grove City High School graduate then bogeyed the par-4 No. 2.
“Definitely starting out, it was just nerves,” Loughry said. “The nerves of understanding I was in a national championship.”
And then, BC3 golf coach Bill Miller said, “He came back.”
Loughry birdied four of the ensuing five par-5s, finished with a 1-over 73 and is tied for second at Chautauqua Golf Course, where the top 18 golfers after Friday’s final round become All-Americans.
“I got back into it,” Loughry said. “For me as a competitor, I made sure that I fought every single shot, every single hole. I have a lot of energy after this round. I think I have a good game plan for (Wednesday).”
"Troy played extremely well."
Andreas Huber, of Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, N.C., led a field of 64 golfers nationwide with a first-round 71.
BC3 earned a berth in the national championship tournament by winning its fifth NJCAA Division III Region 20 crown in May. The Pioneers are in sixth place in the national championship tournament among 10 teams with a 335, 40 strokes behind first-place Sandhills.
Only the lowest four scores of each player in each round are tallied in the team standings.
Liam Kosior, a BC3 freshman and graduate of Neshannock High, shot an 82.
“This will probably have to be his highest score, which it very well could be,” Miller said. “He is real capable of being in the mid-70s, high 70s.”
“I got back into it. For me as a competitor, I made sure that I fought every single shot, every single hole. I have a lot of energy after this round. I think I have a good game plan for (Wednesday).”
Collin Witouski, a BC3 sophomore and Eden Christian Academy graduate, shot an 88; Jack Mason, a BC3 freshman and Freeport graduate, a 92; and Tanner Hohmann, a BC3 freshman and Grove City graduate, a 94.
The team with the lowest score after four rounds will win the national championship.
Loughry is tied with Sandhills’ Alex Martin at 73.
“Troy,” Miller said, “played extremely well.”
BC3 golfers have earned All-American status five times, most recently in 2015, when Stefan Carlsson placed 15th and Thomas Dimun, 16th at Chautauqua.
