The Gustavus Men’s Golf team has had a difficult spring season. The men had their first taste of action March 24-25 when they played in the West Cup Tournament in California. The men placed 13th out of 17 teams competing in the tournament.
“Many top teams in the country were present and provided a big challenge for our guys, considering it was our first time outside as a team since last October. We could tell that we were not as sharp as we needed to be, to compete at that level,” Head Coach Scott Moe said.
Senior Tyler McMorrow finished the West Cup with the team lead as he placed 11th in the tournament. Behind McMorrow were Seniors Matt Jensen and Andrew Oakes.
During Spring Break, the team traveled to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where they spent time training and competing in a dual against Flagler College. No scores were recorded for this dual.
The team then competed April 10-11 at the Augustana Invitational, where they placed 7 out of 17 teams who competed at the Invitational. The Gustavus men had a stronger showing at this event, which was led by Senior Matt Jensen, who finished with a score of 156 (+12). This score gave Jensen a 21st place finish overall at the Invitational.
The Gustavus men will compete in two more events in April before wrapping up the spring season. First, they will host the Bobby Krig invitational on April 21-22. They will then compete in the Saint John’s Invitational on April 26-27 to conclude their season. The goal for the men is to finish this spring season strong.
“We want to finish strong at our own event, the Bobby Krig Invitational, and the St Johns Invitational. We have some outstanding seniors on this year’s team, and I really hope we can put together a great performance for them. They have been great ambassadors for Gustavus and our golf program. I am very thankful for their contributions on and off the course,” Moe said.
Despite the rocky start, the Gustavus men are still hopeful for a potential NCAA National Tournament bid, which is always one of their top goals for the season.
At this point last season, the Gustavus Men’s Golf team was dealing with inclement weather conditions that caused significant issues for the men. This year’s weather conditions are an improvement from last year, but they still haven’t been the greatest conditions to play under. Practice time outside has been hard to come by and the team has had to spend more time hitting golf balls indoors, including in the golf simulator at the Lund Center.
“Last May, we played when it snowed, and our team ended up winning that tournament. There is very little weather that our team isn’t willing to play in,” Sophomore Andrew Brandt said.
As the season draws close to its end, the Gustavus men will play their best to finish the spring season on a high note. Staying relaxed and playing to their potential will be some of the keys to success for the team.
“I think the big keys to our success will be just simplifying things and going out and playing golf. We are all very talented golfers, we just need to relax and go play. I think we have been trying to force things and make things happen, but it hasn’t worked out for us and I think just playing the way we know we can is going to be a big key,” Oakes said.
Confidence and spending time outdoors will also be huge keys to success for the Gustavus men this spring.
“The more practice we get outside will be a key to our success. If we can find our stride in the near future here that would be great as we only have a few tournaments left this spring. I have confidence that everyone on our team can put up numbers that will contribute to winning golf tournaments,” Brandt said.