:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/L2OSXO4GDG43BWJLDB25QW6VTQ.jpg)
AMES – Southwestern men’s golf used a solid second round of play Monday to qualify as a team for the NJCAA Div. II National Championship in Plymouth, Indiana, May 21-24.
Following the first round of play at the NJCAA Region XI Championships Sunday, the Spartans sat with a team score of 318 and were mixed in with four other teams within five strokes.
The Spartans finished Day Two as the third best team in the region with a team score of 625 behind Kirkwood (603), which won its fifth straight Region XI title and Des Moines Area (623).
Head coach Doug North admitted that SWCC didn’t have its best day on the links to open up the championships, but settled in and took care of business to make the cut as a collective bunch.
“To see none of my guys get a medal for top five and ties, but still make it as a team, I think they were pretty pumped about that,” said North. “Nobody really stood out as exceptional, but nobody was terrible all weekend, which was good.”
Both Reinhardt Saunderson and Oliver Pearson, who qualified for the national tournament as individuals last season, placed in the top 10 of the individual leaderboard Monday after tying with each other for seventh place with a 154.
Kyle Somers of Creston and Shaun Richards both came out and cut strokes off their previous day’s total as Somers was eight strokes better on the final day, posting a 76 in the clubhouse. He finished tied for 17th after shooting a total score of 160.
Richards dropped his shot total in the second day as well, posting a six-over 78 on the final day of the tournament.
It was Jesper Holke-Farnam who improved the most from one day to the next, shooting a three-over 75 Monday, following a 90 on Sunday.
“Really it was belief and just mental,” said North. “He improved by, I believe, 16 shots just on the front nine from day one to day two.
“Day two was really a flip-flop,” said North. “The other three (Somers, Richards and Holke-Farnam) really stepped up and made it less stressful on those two (Saunderson and Pearson).”
With no live statistics on the course, the Spartans were left with playing their best golf and hoping they had done enough.
North thought that the second and fifth holes were the biggest points of trouble for the Spartans on the first day and after clearing those two in the second outing, he had a good feeling.
“When we made it through hole five I knew we were putting ourselves in a good spot. You really don’t know anything until the final score is posted, but I knew we were in a good spot,” said North.
UP NEXT – Southwestern has some time to get fully ready for the NJCAA Div. II National Tournament at Swan Lake Golf Resort in Plymouth, Indiana, which begins May 21 and will be four consecutive days of competitive action.
Results
Team results – 1. Kirkwood 603; 2. Des Moines Area 623; 3. Southwestern 625; 4. Northeast (NE) 641; 5. North Iowa Area 646; 6. Iowa Lakes 649; 7. Hawkeye 654; 8. Southeastern 673; 9. Iowa Central 716.
Top 10 individuals – 1. James Morgan, Kirkwood, 71-76 (147); 2. Ben Boerjan, NIACC, 71-77 (148); 3. Ben Epperly, Kirk 75-74 (149); 4. Matthew Schaefer, NECC, 72-78 (150); t5. Will Babcock, Kirkwood, 79-74 (153); t5. Kolby Chup, DMACC, 73-80 (153); t7. Louie Psihoyos, DMACC, 80-74 (154); t7. Ryan Morrison, Kirkwood, 79-75 (154); t7. Reinhardt Saunderson, SWCC, 76-78 (154); t7. Oliver Pearson, SWCC, 75-79 (154).
Southwestern scores – Reinhardt Saunderson, 76-78 (154); Oliver Pearson, 75-79 (154); Kyle Somers, 84-76 (160); Shaun Richards, 83-78 (161); Jesper Holke-Farnam, 90-75 (165)