Golf finished up their 2011-12 season by taking 10th at the Conference Championships earlier this week.

After a rough start on the first day of the tournament in Orlando, the Blue Demons started picking up momentum and fighting back up the ranks.

“I got off to a really slow start which really set me back in the beginning,” senior Ben Westley said. “So that kind of made it tough. I was kind of battling back the rest of the tournament.”

It was a problem with the rest of the team as well. All players were above par with John Pavelko posting nine over, Russell Budd being one over, Jan Juelicher putting five over and Moritz Ackerhans four over after the first day.

Westley took up the lead on the second day when he moved from a spot in 40th to the 14 spot after posting a 70 for the course.

“I started off five over in five and I ended up only six over for the whole tournament so it was kind of tough once I put myself in that hole so that was kind of a challenge that I was hoping not to have.”

Westley posted a top-20 finish coming in 19 with a tournament 222 (+6) for the tournament. Budd finished behind him coming in 31st. And Ackerhans, Jeulicher and Pavelko finished 48th, 37th and 59th respectively.

Westley, who will graduate this spring, believes there was not one truly great accomplishment in his career, but is pleased with the contributions he made throughout his time at DePaul.

“I would have to say consistency,” he said. “I don’t think there’s one tournament or one round that was my greatest accomplishment.”

This year had its ups and downs for the Blue Demons. Coming out of a strong fall season their team play turned inconsistent.

“One person would play well in a round or two people would play well but never would we have four good scores in one round.,” Westley said. “We needed everyone performing their best at the same time and obviously you have to do that to put together a solid team score. We never really did that.”

Westley attributed the inconsistency to the age of the squad on the course and noted that successful squads in the past have been much more experienced, but time on the course and in competition will help this team improve.

“I think it’s really promising,” said Westley. “We’re a pretty young squad. And we have some really talented guys.”

He noted Juelicher was just a freshman and already “shows a lot of promise.”

“As a freshman you can’t really expect to be that consistent because you’re still learning, so he has a really bright future,” said Westley. “You’re not going to be quite as consistent when the core of your team is young.”

While the Demons didn’t have the finish they hoped for, Westley sees them as a team on the rise.

“The results weren’t really there this year, but I think sometimes you have to get worse before you get better. Unfortunately this is my last year where we got worse,” said Westley. “Hopefully they get better next year and I think they will.”