Parker Burman – Staff Writer

The Gustavus Men’s Golf team spent this past weekend competing in the Bobby Krig Invite at their home course. With the help of top eight finishes from Sophomore Teddy Kaste and First-year Pelayo Perez, the Gusties managed to finish fourth overall in the competition. The Gustavus A team took fourth (297-308-605 +41), the B team finished seventh (309-307-616), and the third and final team took fifteenth (321-329-650).

“Finishing the highest on the team was okay, college golf is a team game as well as individual and as a team we finished fourth so being the highest place on the team was okay, but that’s not who I focus on competing against, as me and my teammates are more focused on beating the other teams,” Kaste said.

“The weather was very cold this weekend, which affected the golf ball and the distances you would hit with each club. On most occasions, we had to guess the number we were playing and hit different clubs from different yardages, which made it difficult to commit to some shots. Personally, I decided to take the tough conditions as a positive, as I knew that everyone played under the same conditions, and it was something I could take advantage of,” Perez said.

Kaste led the A team with a finish that tied him for sixth place over the two day event. Perez moved up five spots on day two to get himself within the top ten and the top eight finishing tied for eight. Kaste finished 71-78-149, carding a birdie in his final round while Perez went 75-75-150 with a pair of bogies and a birdie in his second round.

“Being one of two Gusties to finish in the top 8 was bittersweet. On one hand, it was good to finish high in the tournament, but obviously you root for your teammates so ideally we would’ve had more Gusties finish in the top 8,” Kaste said.

Another Gustie golfer made a big jump in his second round of play, as First-year Chris Gutuza also moved up five spots to tie for 14th going 76-75-151 and carding five birdies. Gutuza shared 14th place with teammate Sophomore Jack Reinardy, who went 73-78-151. Junior Khrystjan Petersen finished a stroke behind Gutuza and Reinardy moving up 15 places on day two to finish in a tie for 20th.

“The cold weather just made it important to stay as warm as possible while in between shots,” Reinardy said.

“It’s always nice to play a tournament at the home track. It’s a very unique course. Knowing where to place on a few holes is key. Definitely freed me up a little bit as I knew what I needed to do shot to shot. Especially when a couple of holes you just have to take your medicine and grind out a par and then some holes where you can chase for the birdie,” Petersen said.

In an event where a lot of young Gustie golfers played well over the two day event, veteran leadership has been important to their success. 

“The support I have gotten from the upper-level students on the golf team has been great. This is my first year playing golf as a team sport, as in Spain, golf is an entirely individual sport. The help on and off the course from the upper-classmen on the golf team has helped me immensely to adapt to the format of college golf and the experience of it,” Perez stated.

The Gusties will play this weekend at the Saint John’s Invite in Sauk Centre and Monticello, Minnesota, and hope to build off a strong performance.

“We have a really good squad. It’s been great to see as the season has gone on to see them step up and play well. Especially coming out of the gate well after a long winter break and playing well during spring break and this week. It shows that we have great depth and a great future ahead,” Petersen said.

“Our expectations coming to our home golf course were high,” said Head Coach Scott Moe. “I believe we thought a little more about the end result before making sure we took care of the task at hand. We left some shots out there today because of mental miss cues. We need to realize that all shots do not need to look good, we just need to be able to hit the shots that will get the ball close to the hole. It was nice to see Teddy and Pelayo receive top-10 honors. We should have some good weather to prepare for our final event hosted by Saint Johns.”