Bulldogs get low on final day of Siouxland Invite

By Jacob Knabel on Sep. 10, 2016 in Men's Golf

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Concordia University men’s golf team completed a solid two-day performance at the Siouxland Invitational on Friday in an event co-hosted by conference rivals Dordt and Northwestern. The Bulldogs’ team score of 294 on Friday bested its Thursday total by a stroke and allowed them to place fourth amongst the 17 squads in the tournament field.

No adversity seems to stop sophomore Nolan Zikas, who recently had stiches sewed into one of his fingers. He topped the Bulldogs at the Siouxland Invite by shooting a 73-70–143, good enough to tie for second out of 83 players. Zikas was one of nine Concordia representatives who persevered through stormy conditions and lengthy weather delays.

“I’m very proud of the guys,” Muller said. “I’m fairly certain that’s a 36-hole school record for a team. We showed up back-to-back days and played well. That’s very rewarding for the guys. Nolan turned in a great individual performance. It was nice for him to bounce back after getting stitches out of his finger on Tuesday. We had a lot of scores in the 70s so that shows some of our depth and how competitive we can be. We had great consistency one through five.”

Each of Concordia’s top five players turned in scores of 78 or lower in both rounds of the tournament. Zikas was followed by Russell Otten (71-75–146; T-7th), Tylar Samek (77-72–149; T-20th), Reid Wiebe (74-77–151; T-28th) and Jared Knoepfel (78-77–155; T-41st). Among the foursome on Concordia’s second grouping, Alec Hanson performed best with a 76-76–152.

The two team scores turned in by the Bulldogs at the Siouxland Invite were within striking distance of the school record for best single-round total. Last year’s squad set the standard by shooting a 291 in the second round of the Briar Cliff Mini-Tour Stop this past spring. The scores of 294 and 295 rank Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, on the program’s all-time list of lowest team totals.

Zikas, who owns two career tournament wins, claimed the fourth top-five placement of his young career. On Friday he was just one stroke off a personal best.

The Bulldogs will return to action next week when they co-host the Blue River Classic with Doane. The two-day event will take place Sept. 20-21. Day one will be contested at Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln before shifting to Concordia’s home course, Highlands in Lincoln, for round two.