The fact that the top seven golfers at the Laurentian Voyageurs' team tryouts were separated by just seven strokes following 36 holes of a pair of qualifying rounds is a very good thing, to be sure.

Not quite so great, perhaps, when it comes to putting together a tournament lineup for each of the six upcoming events in which the team will compete - but you have to take the good with the bad, I suppose.

"Individually, the goal is to be in that starting five all year," noted third year veteran Adam Mutuchky, one of three players who will vie to fill that final slot heading into the Guelph Fall Kickoff (Sept 13th) and Western Invitational (Sept 16th) next weekend.

"You want to be playing for the team and helping contribute," added the Sports Administration major.

For Mutuchky in particular, there is a very strong bond to the university format of golf - though he is likely not alone in feeling this way.

"Playing team golf, to me, is so much fun," stated the 20 year old Barrie native who qualified for championship flight at the Idylwylde Invitational this summer but was eliminated by Cory Vaillancourt in the opening round.

"It's my favourite kind of tournament golf. There is something about playing for the team that is really cool to me, something you definitely want to be part of."

With the top seven sitting as follows following the tryout rounds: Vincent Palladino (151), Connor Di Salle (153), Ben Fowke (154), Alex Fowke (155), Liam Shad (157), Oliver Taillefer (157) and Adam Mutuchky (159) - there is little doubt that Laurentian has the talent to contend for tournament titles.

"The biggest thing with team golf where you have five guys playing and four scores counting is that you really can't afford to have two guys have an off day on the same day," said Mutuchky. "We seem to always have those scores in the middle that are on par with the other teams that are competing."

"We just need that low score at the top of our team and the fourth score to be steady. But we have 12 guys on the team this year and they're all capable of putting up that round that could count as a one, two or three spot on the team."

Rounding out the men's roster are Jaden Martin, Riley Bridge, Ethan Mulligan, Logan West and Ben Hickey while the Voyageurs' women's team is comprised of Mackenzie Fowke, Vanessa Paterson, Faith Charbonneau, Breanna Coyne, Kianna Lauzon, Tristan Serre and Mya Kinden.

Head coach Vince Palladino has indicated that his top four men have all earned exemptions to play in the opening two events of the year with the second trio behind them battling it out for the fifth and final spot over the course of the upcoming week.

All in all, Mutuchky was reasonably pleased with his performance at tryouts following a summer in which he felt his game took another step forward.

"My game is likely above where it was the last few years coming in," he said. "I had my best finish at the Invitational and that definitely gives you some confidence coming into tryouts, knowing you have played some good tournament golf at that course already."

With the wind picking up more than usual on Thursday, low scores were an awfully tough ask, especially given that the men teed off from the blacks in the morning before moving to the blue tees for round two.

"The back nine gets tough, just because of how open it is there with the water," said Mutuchky. "If you start mishitting some shots in those conditions, you're going to pay for it out there."

A member at Tangle Creek (just outside of Barrie) who grew up playing a number of junior and pre-junior tournaments against the likes of Palladino (Jr) and Mulligan and other local golfers, Mutuchky hopes to translate summer success over to a solid fall season at Laurentian this year.

"I've noticed a lot more consistency in my game, this summer, even just playing casual rounds at home during the week," he said. "My scores were much closer together; the bad one weren't as bad."

And with a team as closely bunched as the 2024 Laurentian Voyageurs, he and the others will need far more good rounds than bad to ensure that they earn playing time in what is a very abbreviated season.