Nyden Hill – Staff Writer

This past weekend, on Saturday, April 15, the Gustavus women’s golf team traveled to Hastings, MN to host the Gustie Spring Invite. The event took place at the Emerald Greens golf course and featured teams from the MIAC, including Carleton College, Bethel University, Wartburg College, and St. Benedict.

Going into the tournament, the Gusties certainly hoped to make a splash with this being their first contest of the spring season. In the fall, the Gusties finished their season with a 23rd-place finish at the D3 Golfweek Challenge. This tourney took place in Destin, Florida, on October 17 and 18, and featured some of the nation’s best division three golf teams, including Emory University, Washington University- St. Louis, and Carnegie Mellon. With this strong finish to their fall season in mind, the Gusties certainly have some high hopes for how the second half of the year will unfold.

“We have been working hard over the winter to make some swing corrections, putting, and some carry distances and yardages over the winter at the golf facility. We were all eager to get out there and compete and put our off-season practice to the test,” Senior Laurel Ward said.

This tournament consisted of 18 holes that would be played consecutively. The Emerald Greens golf course totaled 5720 yards, with it also being a par 72.

While the weather for much of the past week had been extremely nice, with temperatures reaching up to the upper-80s, the weather on Saturday was nothing short of disappointing. With the high being only 56 degrees, the Gusties would certainly have had to take into consideration the unusual weather when they took the green to begin spring play. 

“Spring season is about learning to play in unpredictable weather, it toughens us up as players and competitors. At the start of the round it was rainy, then it was windy and chilly, it’s all about being prepared as best you can to stay warm,” Ward said.

Beginning the tournament at Emerald Greens golf course, the Gusties started the day off strong, with Ward leading the charge. Through the course of the first nine holes, Ward stood only two over par on the day, with her only two bogeys coming on holes four and nine. Some of the other Gusties were not far behind, with Junior Annika Reierson, First-year Emily Kolb, and Senior Hannah Hubbart, being four, eight, and eight over par after nine holes of play, respectively.

Throughout the back nine, Ward continued to impress, with an even last nine holes of play. Ward’s excellent performance throughout the back nine not only placed the Gusties in an excellent position to finish the tournament well as a team but also placed Ward in sole possession of the first-place spot with a +2 showing.

In addition to Ward’s stellar performance, the rest of the Gusties continued to impress throughout the last nine holes of the afternoon. Reirson followed up her front half with an equally respectable back half of +4, putting her eight over par on the day and placing her tied for tenth in the tournament. Hubbart put together an even more impressive back nine than her front nine, only being three over par, compared to her +8 front half. Kolb held steady to finish her afternoon, throwing down an 8 over par back nine, equalling her 8 over front nine.

When the final ball of the afternoon entered the 18th hole, the Gusties finished remarkably strong, earning a third-place finish out of 11 teams, totaling 36 over par as a team, being only seven points off of the lead. Hubbart had this to say about the team’s spring debut.

“I think the team played very well. We finished third which is a good start to the season but we have room for improvement. It was fun to be back out on the course again and hitting off of real grass and playing alongside our teammates and competing,” Hubbart said.

With this strong start in mind, the Gusties look to April 22,  where they travel to White Bear Lake, MN to take on the Bethel Lions, in the Bethel Spring Invite, where the Gusties hope to continue to add to the momentum created with the Gustie Spring Invite against MIAC competition. We wish the Gusties the best of luck as they hope to make the Gustie community proud!