Mercer Men’s Golf Fall Review: Bears Show Signs of Greatness

MACON, Ga. (MERCER RELEASE) – The Mercer men’s golf team enjoyed great success during the 2013 fall campaign, setting the stage for what may be the team’s most promising spring championship season in program history.

Mercer took top-5 finishes in four of five events during the fall en route to a Golfstat’s No. 32 ranking and Golfweek’s No. 39 ranking at the midyear mark. The campaign saw a pair of freshmen standouts emerge as worthy additions to a trio of experienced upper classmen.

The markings of a strong season showed at the team’s first event, where the Bears took a fourth place finish in a strong field at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate. Senior Hans Reimers and junior Trey Rule powered Mercer to the finish, each recording top-10 placements at the event.

But Mercer’s momentum truly picked up at the second event of the fall, when Bradley inserted the freshmen pair of Emmanuel Kountakis and Sean Smothers into the lineup. The decision paid immediate dividends, as the duo combined to contribute four round scores to Mercer’s second place finish at the event. Senior James Beale highlighted the showing, taking fifth place overall with notable rounds of 5-under-par 67 and 4-under-par 68.

“I believe the solid play of Emmanuel and Sean allows the other guys to relax and just play golf,” Bradley said. “In the past, if Hans, Trey, or James struggled in a round, the team struggled because we lacked depth on a consistent basis. Now, I think there is less pressure on the top three because they know the other guys have their backs if they don’t have their good stuff in a round.”

With an influx of confidence, the now solidified lineup approached Mercer’s signature fall event, the Brickyard Collegiate. A field of powerhouse programs descended upon Macon for the event’s seventh edition, but little knew what was in store for the weekend.

Mercer silenced doubters and claimed the team championship effort behind outstanding play from Reimers and Kountakis. The unlikely pair eventually laid claim to two-thirds of a three-way tie for the individual championship, while all five of Mercer’s participants finished inside the top-22 individuals.

Kountakis was sharp from the beginning, carding three sub-par rounds in just his second collegiate event, while Reimers used a red-hot second-round 7-under-par 65 to power his way to a share of the title.

Mercer’s championship was its first tournament win since February of 2011 and came against a field that included six of Golfweek’s top-30 teams. The performance vaulted Mercer into the outlet’s No. 26 spot and landed the team recognition on The Golf Channel’s Morning Drive show and top billing on the Golfweek.com collegiate page.

In the next outing, Rule embodied Mercer’s reluctance to letdown with his best collegiate performance. The junior shot 6-under-par 66 in the final round as Mercer closed the tournament in sixth place on the leaderboard.

“Hans is clearly the leader of the team both from a work ethic standpoint, and he was voted team captain by his teammates,” Bradley said. “They trust him, respect him, and they look to him to lead us this spring. As for Trey, he is more of the lead-by-example type and is very supportive of all his teammates. His play has been very solid and he has improved every semester he’s been on campus.”

The final event of the fall came in Jacksonville, where Mercer joined nine of Golfstat’s top-100 programs at the Osprey/Eagle Intercollegiate. Reimers shined once again, posting his eighth sub-par round of the fall to take fourth place overall. As a team, Mercer came in third among the 15-team field.

With the fall portion of the year in the books, Bradley’s squad looks towards a spring season that includes five events leading up to the Atlantic Sun Championship on April 20-22.

“I think we have several challenges facing us in the spring and I’m looking forward to seeing how we handle them,” Bradley said. “For the first time, our team and program has expectations that they feel they need to live up to – but the truth is we need to continue to stay focused on trying to improve each day.”

The challenge of leading the program to its first NCAA tournament berth in program history lays on the shoulders of Bradley, who intends to guide his team in a day-by-day approach.

“We’ve got to stay disciplined to what put us in this position and remember that we still have a lot of golf to play,” Bradley said. “We’ll need to regain that confidence we had in the fall after the three month break from the end of the fall and the start of the spring.”

If the first half of the year was any sign of things to come, the team has no reason to doubt their ability to win the league. In five head-to-head matchups with A-Sun teams, Mercer was never bested by a league opponent in the fall.