During his sophomore and junior seasons, Zack Caruso liked his spot on the Northwestern golf team. As the Tigers' No. 3 player, Caruso played behind two of the best players in the Colonial League.

For two years he was the best golfer on the team after Cole Miller and Nick Vecellio.

This year, with that pair graduated, Caruso knew he would need to be the best player on the team if it was to have any success.

The senior took over the No. 1 position in the line up and filled as well as anyone could have asked, posting an 82 scoring average and leading the Tigers to a 7-6 season.

"It put a lot of pressure on my to shoot low scores," said Caruso. "I came through. I did what I wanted to. I was happy with what I averaged and how I shot this year. It was a lot of hard work and endless times at the range."

The senior finished the Colonial League season last Wednesday at the league tournament, where he fired an 87 for 16th place.

"It was tough," Caruso said. "I didn't hit the greens I wanted to hit. But I still made a comeback and played all right.

"I wish I could have put my chips closer on my third shot. I was leaving them about seven feet away, so my putts weren't simple. I'm happy with the way I drove and putted it. It was just my chipping that I needed to work on."

Caruso will move on to Monday's District 11 qualifying tournament at Mahoning Valley Country Club. If he finishes in the top 18 at the qualifier, he will advance to the district championship tournament Oct. 3 at Shawnee.

"To make it through to the next round," he said. "I've got to be high 70s for that. On that course I should be able to do that. I'm going to spend countless hours chipping for the next week."

No matter what happens over the next two weeks, Caruso will always look back at his senior golf season as a successful one. He was proud of his teammates for helping pull out so many wins this season.

"Walking into the season, our heads were down because we didn't have Cole or Nick," he said. "But we came out and did what we needed to do and I'm happy with our performances.

"After the first match against Salisbury, we lost but, but we looked back and we said 'A couple strokes here or there and we could have beaten them.' We came out and beat the teams we needed to beat. Brandon [Eden] and Tyler [Wiik] and I, it was just all the time we spent at the range."

Wiik and Eden both competed in last week's league tournament. Eden finished tied for 20th with an 88. Wiik shot 91 for 24th place.