The Waynesburg men’s golf team began the spring part of its 2019 season with a win over Carlow last Saturday, 343-376.

Freshman Luke Diel led the way for the Yellow Jackets, shooting a 79 for the round. Head coach Sam Jones was pleased with Diel’s performance and what he has brought to the Jackets in the short time he’s been here.

“He’s a really good golfer,” said Jones. “He understands the game well, plays confidently and he’s got a few things to work on [just like everyone], but he’s brought a confidence and skill level to our team and it’s been great.”

With it being the team’s first time on a course together since the fall Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships in October, Jones was satisfied with the team’s performance. In fact, six of the eight golfers shot under 100.

“It was great because we took eight golfers and seven of the eight shot better than their opponent and I was really pleased with that,” said Jones. “We had six guys shoot under 100. I thought it was a great kickoff to our spring season, obviously there are some things we can improve on.”

Sophomore Will Purbaugh fell in third for the Yellow Jackets, finishing the day with an 86. He believes the golf program is continuing to progress at Waynesburg.

“[It’s] always good to pick up a win,” said Purbaugh. “I was very impressed with our team’s performance, we had six guys under 100, which for our team it’s rare because we’re such an up and coming program. We look for smaller, team-based victories as opposed to winning tournaments at this point. It shows that we can and will be competitive in this conference, we aren’t going to be the push over anymore.”

Jones said that even though the ability to use the simulation room through the winter helps a lot of the guys stay in the game year-round, stepping foot on a real course is always beneficial, especially for a group that’s constantly competing with each other to improve.

“The sim room is great and it’s a great asset we have,” said Jones. “But it’s good to get outside. I’m excited because the top five has been defined but we’re getting to the point [as a program] where if we can only take five [golfers] we have to leave a good golfer home because that means we have competition and we’re pushing each other and trying to get better.”

Currently, the Yellow Jackets sit behind Thiel College in the PAC Championship standings. The final round of the tournament won’t be played until April 27, but until then, Jones hopes that his team will use invitationals to continue to improve.

“Eventually I’d like to have some invitational plaques to hang up, but right now we’re just really pushing for improvement,” said Jones. “And the Thiel Invitational is a great one because Thiel is the team right ahead of us in the standings and that’s who we’re trying to catch.”

Purbaugh, like Jones, said the team shares a similar mentality as a growing program in the PAC.

“Our team is always striving to improve and that’s what we did Saturday,” said Purbaugh.