284 athletics standing firm As the Harding men’s golf team drove to the Hot Springs Country Club, expectations were high. Five men had worked all year, both individually and as a whole, towards the Gulf South Conference Tournament. The Bisons competed against 13 other teams that belonged to a conference which many felt was the toughest in NCAA Division II competition. Coach Nicky Boyd said the team was excited to play and felt confident they would do well; however, they tried to treat it as just another day of playing golf. “We played tournaments all year right up until the big one,” Boyd said. “We hit a lot of balls the week leading up to it, but there was really nothing different about the way we prepared.” Boyd also attributed the leadership of juniors Andrew Warder and Dusty Gourley to the team’s preparation. “They both set excellent examples to all our players by their work ethic and personal discipline to do everything they could to get better,” Boyd said. Senior Austin Osburn said that while the team played well on the first day of the tournament, things did not seem to come together like they had hoped. “After the first day we were doing really well, and then things just started to go south,” Osburn said. “I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we were playing above even our own expectations the first day, but unfortunately that’s the way golf is; it’s an all-out mental battle.” After three rounds of golf, the Bisons finished 9th overall. Individually, though, junior Dusty Gourley placed 6th overall, and made the All-Tournament team. “We didn’t place as well as we would have liked, and for several of our guys, it was their last college tournament,” Gourley said. “On a personal level, I was very excited. I knew I could have played better, yet I was still able to compete at that high level.” Gourley said he attributed most of his success to lots of time on the driving range and putting green leading up to the tournament, which helped him stay focused. However, Gourley said that the tournament was in the past, and now he was excited and looking forward to the 2009 season. “My expectations for this season are very high,” Gourley said. “We have two seniors returning: Andrew Warder and myself. We have a sophomore and several freshmen that are very promising. We want to compete for the team title, so we know we have to play very well.” Zach Welch Bison golfer achieves success on and off course Senior Dusty Gourley prepares to blast his way out of a bunker in a practice round played Oct. 28. Gourley set a two-day tournament stroke record with a total of 142 strokes, beating the previous record by one stroke. Nick Michael Senior Andrew Warder tees off during a practice round played at the Searcy Country Club on Oct. 28. Warder, a three time letter-winner for the Bisons, played in all four events in which his team competed. Nick Michael
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