ORANGE CITY, Iowa – For the second-straight day, a Bulldog golf squad broke a program record for the lowest single round in school history. On Thursday it was the Concordia men’s turn. Buoyed by junior Reid Wiebe’s career low 69, the Bulldogs shot a 298 and sit in ninth place out of 18 after day one of two at the Siouxland Invite in western Iowa. Thursday’s action took place at Landsmeer Golf Course in Orange City.
Wiebe and company broke the record tied by last year’s squad, which twice shot a 300 (GPAC Qualifier No. 1 and the Midland Fall Invite). The 298 was an early-season best by 10 strokes.
“Across the board there were some spectacular scores,” Muller said. “We played pretty well to shoot a 298. Reid was solid from tee to green. He made five birdies. Tyler’s (Ehresman) score was also a personal best.”
Wiebe knocked three strokes off of his previous best single round as a Bulldog. His two-under-par performance has him in a tie for fourth, two strokes off the lead on the individual leaderboard of 98 competitors.
The remaining three players in Concordia’s top four of its ‘A’ team each turned in scores in the 70s: sophomore Tyler Ehresman (74, T-27th), freshman Nolan Zikas (76, T-49th) and junior Jared Knoepfel (79, T-69th). Sophomore Russell Otten shot an 80.
“Our first day in Yankton (last week) we were in good position after 12 holes. We just didn’t finish,” Muller said. “Today was the opposite. We made a lot of birdies late to get the team score down. A lot of our guys had two par fives in their last four holes and really took advantage.”
Muller brought a total of nine players to the tournament. Among players on the Concordia ‘B’ team, junior Court Croghan carded the second best score of any Bulldog with a personal best two-over-par 73 that puts him in a tie for 18th place. Croghan led the way for the B grouping, which included seniors Garrett Suchanek (77, T-59th), Brock Colclasure (78, T-65th) and Sam Simonson (79, T-69th).
The Siouxland Invite picks up on Friday at 10 a.m. from The Ridge Golf Club in Sioux Center, Iowa. Concordia’s A team stands 10 shots off of second place and 24 off of first-place Northwestern. Wiebe is just two strokes behind a pair of Northwestern golfers tied atop the leaderboard.