ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The third official varsity tournament of the fall is in the books for Concordia University Men’s Golf. On a couple of days that featured favorable conditions to shoot low scores, the Bulldogs were unable to capitalize in the way they hoped. The Bulldog ‘A’ grouping placed 11th out of 17 teams of five at the Siouxland Invite (Sept. 11-12) co-hosted by Dordt and Northwestern. The field included 87 golfers from 10 institutions (eight GPAC schools).
Ten Concordia golfers represented Head Coach Brett Muller’s squad at the event, which took place at both The Ridge Golf Club in Sioux Center, Iowa, and Landsmeer Golf Course in Orange City, Iowa. The two Bulldog groupings shot totals of 306-298-292–896 and 305-301-299–905, respectively.
“Our goal is to be more competitive with the top three or four teams in the GPAC,” Muller said. “We didn’t produce the last two days like we’re capable of. A common theme was that we struggled in our short game on and around the greens. We let way too many strokes get away.
“Jake (Hagerbaumer) and Justin (Webert) both played pretty well today. We just didn’t have the three and four scores to make a push from a team perspective.”
Hagerbaumer and Webert turned in identical one-under-par 70s in Tuesday’s round. The Lincoln native Webert climbed into 21st place on the final individual leaderboard and carded a three-round total of 76-75-70–221 while pacing Concordia. The group of five on the Bulldog ‘A’ team at the Siouxland Invite also included Jake Richmond (74-75-74–223), Hagerbaumer (78-76-70–224), Drew D’Ercole (78-73-78–229) and Josh D’Ercole (78-75-79–232). The second grouping was led by Gavin McWhorter, who placed in a tie for 31st overall (76-75-72–223).
The 292 team score in round three at the Siouxland Invite marked the second lowest 18-hole total so far this fall for the Bulldogs. They shot a 291 in round three of last week’s Blue River Classic. After three tournaments, Drew D’Ercole and Webert are neck and neck for the team low scoring average (currently tied at 73.7). Both D’Ercole and Webert claimed medals at the Blue River Classic.
Siouxland Invite Final Results (par 71)
‘A’ Team: 306-298-292–896 (11th place)
‘B’ Team: 305-301-299–905 (12th place)
T21. Justin Webert: 76-75-70–221
T31. Gavin McWhorter: 76-75-72–223
T31. Jake Richmond: 74-75-74–223
T37. Jake Hagerbaumer: 78-76-70–224
T42. Jacob Woodmancy: 78-71-76–225
T46. Colin Aubuchon: 75-75-77–227
T51. Drew D’Ercole: 78-73-78–229
T54. Brock Rogers: 76-80-74–230
T59. Josh D’Ercole: 78-75-79–232
T76. Gavin Buttshaw: 80-86-80–246
The Concordia Men’s Golf team will have the remainder of this week off from competition while looking ahead to the Hastings Invite on Sept. 25-26. The action will take place at Lochland Country Club in Hastings, Neb., on both days of the tournament.