In a transition year for the Seton Hall men’s golf team, the young Pirates roster looks for someone to lead the 60% of upperclassmen that make up the roster. It is clear that Gregor Tait has become an apparent leader both in the locker room and on the course.
Tait, who ranked 19th in scoring average in the entire Big East Conference a year ago, was also the Seton Hall Freshman Male Student Athlete in 2018-19. Now he is looking to make the jump from a great golfer to leader. While Tait noted that everyone on the team “maintains the practice relationship with coach and giving people the right things to work on,’’ he also said that “Communication is so important. Speaking to everybody, and we all really try to work with each other.” Tait will be one of the members of the team who is counted on more than others, mainly because he truly leads by example by his play on the course. The righty has already helped guide the Pirates to two third-place finishes in the Alex Lagowitz Memorial and the Hartford Hawks Invitational, including a tie for fifth in the former.
Most recently, at the Hartford Hawks Invitational, Tait finished in a tie for 12th individually and second on the Pirates, who were led by Wenliang Xie, the top individual performer at the event.
“Over the summer I’d been up, just training, and practicing there, so I know the course really well,” Tait said. “The whole team knows the course really well. We kind of have a special connection with the place”.
Clearly that showed during the two-day invitational, as Tait stood at five-under par after the first two rounds. Although he shot five-over in the final round, it was still good for an overall score of even par, proving that he not only knew the course well but was able to manage around it and come away with a lot of birdies, particularly in the earlier round.
The England native looks to continue his brilliant play at the Hamptons Intercollegiate, the next tournament up on the Pirates’ schedule. Hosted by Loyola Maryland, it will be played at Maidstone Club in East Hampton, New York, from Oct. 7-8.
Mat Mlodzinski can be reached at matthew.mlodzinski@student.shu.edu. Find him on Twitter @Mlodzinski_15.
