Despite the piles of snow still on the ground, the NMU golf team has participated in two tournaments this spring season.

The first was April 6-7 at the Northern Kentucky University Spring Regional Invitational in Georgetown, Ky.

NMU finished in 21st place with a team score of 652 (+76). Indianapolis University took first place with a score of 577, shooting just one stroke over par. Ferris State finished with 578, Grand Valley tied Northern Kentucky at 580, while Wayne State (582) and Northwood (585) rounded out the top six finishers in the tournament.

“We play in a very competitive conference region, and this tournament was no exception,” junior Neil Passinault said.

Passinault had the best individual finish for NMU as he placed 80th with a score of 158 (+14). Luke Thode tied for 91st with a score of 161, which was 17 over par. Ben Fulcher finished tied for 94th with a match score of 162 (+18). Rob Desimone finished with a 173 and Tom Sarasin with a 176 for the ‘Cats.

After the first match Passinault said the low finishes on the team were partially due to the weather at NMU being too cold for practices.

“I don’t know about the other guys, but I usually just play a lot of Tiger Woods (golf) on Playstation 2,” Passinault said. “But seriously, practice is nearly impossible in the spring because of all the snow in the U.P. The only chance that we have to practice in March and April is while we’re on the road for tournaments.”

The top final score went to Jason Dunlup of Northwood and Joe Juszczky of Wayne State who each finished with a 138 (-6).

The second tournament for the ‘Cats was in Ashland, Ohio. NMU finished eighth overall with a team score of 646, 70 strikes over par. Grand Valley took first with a 595 (+19), Ferris State second with 602 (+26), Wayne State with 608 (+32), Findlay University with 611 (+35) and Ashland University rounded out the top five with 613 (+37).

The best individual final scores for NMU were Anthony Bilich with a 154 (+11), Passinault with a 167 (+23), Desimone with 168 (+24) and Sacrasin with 173 (+29).

The next tournament for the ‘Cats is the NCAA regional No. 3 in Noblesville, Ind., on Saturday, April, 19 and Sunday, April 20.