Men’s golf’s season got off to a rough start as the team landed in last place at the Northern Intercollegiate.

The Huskies’ (315, 314, 317, 946) poor first round left them in too deep a hole to climb out of at the tournament, which was held Friday-Sunday at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. They finished 18 strokes behind 12th-place finisher Lamar and 19 strokes behind Indiana, which finished 11th.

Virginia (297,296, 286, 879) emerged triumphant after a fierce battle with Winthrop (285, 302, 295, 882) for the top spot in the final nine holes. Purdue (293, 298, 302, 893), which appeared to be in the chase for first, fell to fourth behind Ohio State (290, 304, 298, 893).

Winthrop freshman Zach Seabolt posted the best three-day total with 212, which put him at four-under par. The closest golfer behind him was Houston’s Vincent Martino, who finished with 215.

The back nine was the biggest challenge for NIU. It finished 26-, 16- and 42-over par in each respective round on the back nine.

“It’s just different [things] get in your head and don’t get out,” said senior Liam White (80, 82, 78, 240). “Bad golf, that’s all that really is. Obviously, there’s a struggle for everyone this week, especially myself. Until the back nine today, I wasn’t really happy with my play. At least it came around so there’s something to look forward to, but it’s really just a tough week for the entire team.”

There were bright spots for the Huskies. In the third round, sophomore Raphael Denais (78, 80, 75, 233) ended strong with three birdies in a row before hitting a bogey and par to finish the round three-over par. Head coach Tom Porten said the players’ struggles outweighed the good moments.

“Their lack of discipline is a little bit of a concern,” Porten said. “The first tournament of the year, we learned a lot about each of the players. For the most part, I was pleased with the performance of our freshmen [Patrick Murphy and Davis Holman] and Raphael Denais, who played really well today, but it’s always disappointing when you can’t get the job done on your own golf course. So our guys are disappointed as well and we’ve got a lot of work to do before we go back into competition in two weeks in Indiana.”

While competing as an individual, sophomore Pierrick Fillon (71, 82, 76, 229) finished the first round Friday one-under par. His second-round performance on Saturday saw him finish at 10-over par, but he recovered Sunday to finish at four-over par. Fillon finished tied at 32nd, which was the highest rank for an NIU golfer at the tournament.

Porten said the strong play of the individuals combined with the weak play of the starters means the starting lineup in the next tournament is up for grabs.

“We’ve got to work harder on the mental side of the game: battling through when you have a bad hole instead of compiling it up and having a bunch of mistakes add on and add on, and keep on going just to like make your mistake, cut it off and start over again,” White said.