Yabut makes championship push as Concordia places fifth in Hastings

By Jacob Knabel on Apr. 12, 2022 in Men's Golf

HASTINGS, Neb. – The tournament championship push for Ivan Yabut came down to a playoff on Tuesday (April 12) as the Concordia University Men’s Golf team wrapped up the second and final round of the Hastings Invitational. Yabut came up short in his bid for a first career tournament championship. He tied for first in a field 63 golfers (10 teams) that played all 36 holes of the event at Lochland Country Club in Hastings. As a team, the Bulldog ‘A’ group placed fifth.

Head Coach Brett Muller’s ‘A’ squad shot a two-round score of 301-326–627. Concordia’s ‘B’ team placed sixth with total of 323-323–646.

“After Ivan today, we weren’t able to get anyone else in the ‘A’ group under 80,” Muller said. “That hurts your team score when you don’t have consistency one through four. But Ivan played solid both days. He didn’t make a lot of birdies, but he avoided the big number. That was huge for him the last two days. The playoff was pretty exciting with a lot of people cheering.”

A native of Omaha, Yabut’s first-place tie marked his best-ever placement in his collegiate career. Earlier this season, Yabut had turned in place finishes of third, fifth and sixth at separate events. His score of 71-76–147 (+3) at the Hastings Invite exactly equaled the performance of University of Science & Arts (Okla.)’s Caleb Smith. Three others in the tournament finished two strokes back. For Yabut, the two-round total of 147 tied for his third lowest score at a two-day event in 2021-22.

Teammates Justin Webert (72-85–157) and Jacob Woodmancy (77-81–158) weren’t far from joining Yabut in the top 10. Webert and Woodmancy placed 14th and 15th, respectively. It took a score of 154 or lower to earn a top 10 placement. Woodmancy was the standout for the ‘B’ team. In addition to Yabut and Webert, the ‘A’ team included Drew D’Ercole (76-83–159; T-18th), Jake Hagerbaumer (82-83–165; T-34th) and Gavin Buttshaw (87-84-171; 46th).

Four other golfers represented the Bulldogs in Hastings: Taylor Johnson (79-82–161; T-22nd), Jaxson Fullerton (84-81–165; T-34th), Nate Auffut (88-79–167; 40th) and Josh D’Ercole (83-87–170; T-44th). Between the two rounds, Concordia competitors combined for seven scores in the 70s.

A week earlier, with better conditions, the Bulldogs shot a score of 292-299–591 at the Bethel Spring Invitational and placed fifth out of 12 teams. The team average coming into this week was 303.6.

As the final event prior to the spring portion of the GPAC Championships, the Bulldogs will compete at the GPAC Preview hosted by Briar Cliff next Monday and Tuesday (April 18-19). The first day of action will be held at The Bluffs Golf Course in Vermillion, S.D., before play shifts to Two Rivers Golf Club for day two.