Golf: Front Row: Andrew Baker, Greg Ramer, Paul Sobottka. Back Row: Jeff Powell, Bill Brandsma, Brent Powell, Coach Nicky Boyd Youthful golf team looks to great future The 1998 Bison golf team finished sixth in the Lone Star Conference Tournament and Coach Nicky Boyd was named KWCK Dream Team Coach of the Year. Competing for the number one position and leading the team were junior Brent Powell and freshman Paul Sobottka. .- "It is always good to have someone push you," Powell said. "I played better in the fall and Paul played better in the spring. It helped us become better players." Although Powell had aslightly better stroke average at the end of the season, Sobottka was listed as one of the top 10 players in the Lone Star Conference; Powell made it into the top 20. "I just went out t here and played, " Sobottka said. Rounding out the top five and competing for the four and five spots were Powell 's freshman brother Jeff, returning lettermen junior Bill Brandsma, seniors Andrew Baker and Bryan Layton and freshman Greg Ramer. With only two seniors, the team was fairly young and inexperienced, wh ich made it more difficult to compete against older, more experienced teams. This did not prevent Boyd from setting high goals for the season. "We were wanting to qualify for nationals; we did not do this, but we still played pretty well," Boyd said. "We will be more prepared for that next year." The team's play often fell short of the top spots. In the Missouri Southern match, they finished third. ''We were just a couple of strokes from wi nning," Boyd said. *fil.1-Stars All Conference 2nd Team Paul Sobottka "It was very exciting for us. " One of the bright spots for the Bisons this season was winn ing the Harding University Golf Classic, which was played at the Greystone Country Club in Cabot. Some of the competi ti on the Bisons faced were Henderson State, Ouachita Baptist and the Un iversity of Arkansas at Montice llo. "The weather made it a tough day to play, but I feel we played all right because we came in first place," Sobottka said. "Among the many attributes was team unity, which played a ma jo r role throughout the season." The team worked together to achieve their goals. "We were not expecting too much; we wanted to play we ll ," Jeff Powell said. "We were young and we finished in the middle of theLone Star Conference and that was good for us. We were in a rebuilding process and, together, we were preparing for the next season." Brandsma said the team managed to get up for major tournaments. "When it came to bigger tournaments, there was more team unification,"he said. Working together came naturally for Jeffand Brent Powell. "We played together in high school and we get along pretty well ; it's a good th ing," Jeff said. Harding's golf team had a difficu lt rebuilding year, but accord ing to Brandsma, "The best part about playing for Harding is the competitiveness wi th the Christian focus. " That is something that Brandsma said he is proud of. - Diane Grubbs GOLF 207 •
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