Parker Burman-
This past weekend the Gustavus men’s golf team traveled to Le Sueur to square off in the Bobby Krig invitational, played at Le Sueur Country Club. The Gusties totaled 296-306-602 (+38) good for a fourth-place finish. Saint John’s won the event with a 296-285-581.
Sophomore Pelayo Perez Crespo led the way for the Gusties, tying for 10th place with a 71-76-147 (+6). Senior Tommy Hiniker was one stroke behind and tied for 14th at 73-75-148. “I was happy with my performance on the first day of the tournament, as I was capable of making a lot of birdies which gave me the chance to put myself one shot away from the lead. However, in the second round, I found myself not striking the ball pretty well and was unable to shoot the score I wanted. The second round was frustrating, nonetheless, it’s all part of the process,” Perez Crespo said.
“After the first day, we were tied for first. Considering the second round was at our home course, I think as a team we were disappointed we did not win the tournament. Nonetheless, putting ourselves in a position to have the chance to win a tournament is something we should be proud of and learn from” Perez Crespo said.
Junior Jack Reinardy and Sophomore Chris Gutuza tied for 31st with scores of 78-78-156 and 74-82-156, respectively, while Junior Teddy Kaste played the worst out of the A team with an 84-77-161, tying for 48th.
“I thought the weather was nice all weekend but just a little cold where we needed gloves to keep our hands warm for the first day. I don’t like to blame the weather for both mine and our team’s performance because everyone had to play in it” First-year Blake Forrest said.
Forrest led the second team, tying for 20th place with a 77-74-151. The Gustie B team took 10th with a 317-305-622. “Individually, I feel like I performed pretty well. Going into the weekend, I had a good plan coming in knowing one of the courses was tight off the tee. My driver hasn’t been performing well as of recently, so my game plan had to go off of that. My short game felt good the entire weekend, which helped me save par or even make a nice birdie. Overall, I went 77-74, which was a good bounce back after Memphis, “Forrest said.
“Certainly not the results we were working towards today,” Head Coach Scott Moe said. “I think we wanted to win so badly that when we fell behind, we felt defeated. Because you can’t control what another team or individuals do on the golf course, we need to do a better job of managing the situation directly in front of us and not getting derailed by bad swings, shots, or bounces. We will get prepared and have a lineup ready for next weekend at the Saint John’s Invite.”
Gustavus will play at the Saint John’s Invite on Saturday and Sunday at the Monticello Country Club.
“There are a lot of things we can learn from this past weekend that we can take to our last two tournaments and try to finish strong. As a team we are excited to play our last two tournaments and finish the season with some good results” Perez Crespo said.
“As a team, I believe we could’ve performed better as a whole throughout the tournament. We have to make sure that we are committed to every shot and have a purpose with that specific shot. On the first day, the A team (Gold team) had a good day being T1, but there was still room for improvement after the first day. Luckily as a team, we played our home course (Le Sueur CC) on the second day, which I thought was a big advantage over other teams. I thought we had a good chance [of] moving up spots and grabbing that number 1 spot once the day ended, but it just wasn’t our day. After finishing that tournament, I believe if we can eliminate the higher scores like double bogey or triple bogey, we will be in good shape and be in contention again. That’s what separates us between St John’s” Forrest said.