The Gustavus Men’s Golf Team, ranked No. 25 in the latest polls, capped off a phenomenal fall season with a second place finish at the MIAC Championships on Monday.

The Gusties were coming off a victory at the Twin Cities Classic, hosted by the Minnesota Valley Country Club on September 28-30.

After the first round of the tournament the Gusties sat in second place behind strong play from Sophomore Jacob Pedersen and First-year Khrystjan Petersen, who shot 71 and 72, respectively. Pedersen sat atop the leaderboard as an individual after the first round, while the first year was in fifth.

The Gusties posted a six-over 294 as a team, one behind the leaders from UW-Eau Claire.

“Conditions were not that easy, but we got out of the gates well. It’s a very strong field, so to have two guys, JP and Khrystjan, in the top five is great,” Assistant Coach Randy Stuckey said.

For the second round, the Gusties traveled to Elk River Country Club. Despite difficult conditions, the Black and Gold shot 291 and moved into first place.

On day two, Pedersen and Junior Max Ullan led the way with matching scores of 71 (-1). Pedersen maintained a two-stroke lead over Cole Jahnke of UW-Eau Claire as the top scoring individual. Ullan’s two day total of 147 slotted him in a tie for eighth place.

Senior Ben Hauge carded an eagle on the par-four 13th hole and moved up to 13th place overall with a 73.

“When you miss any shots out there it takes great scrambling skills to save par, and we were able to manage that very well today. Under par out there today was a great score,” Head Coach Scott Moe said.

For the third and final round, the Gusties were back at Minnesota Valley, and picked up right where they left off from day two.

Hauge and Jacob Pedersen highlighted day three of the tournament with scores of 71 and 73, respectively.

With their scores, Pedersen secured a tie for first place and Hauge jumped ten spots on the leaderboard to finish third overall.

Ullan finished with a 76 while Junior Carter Czichotzki shot a 72 to round out the Gusties top scorers.

With their final round 292, the Gusties held on to first place and finished 18 strokes ahead of the second-place Tommies.

“This weekend the guys played three exceptional rounds to put together a big win. It has been a while since we had such a strong three days of golf, starting out good and finishing each round, particularly today’s round,” Coach Stuckey said.

For his win, Jacob Pedersen was named MIAC Men’s Golfer of the Week.

The Gusties looked to continue this strong momentum moving into the Conference Championships this past weekend with play beginning on Sunday, October 6th after a rain delay on Saturday.

The first day of the tournament featured 18 holes at the Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan, MN. The Gusties came out hot and held a four-stroke lead after shooting 301 in the first round of play.

This time, Junior Max Ullan led the Gusties and was tied for the overall lead after scoring a one-over 73.

Jacob Pedersen was tied for third and just one stroke back with a 74, while Hauge and Czichotzki each posted scores of 77 to be tied for 11th. 

“It was a good start for the guys today. A lot of golf left to be played. Great competition, five teams within five shots of the lead. A couple of holes we need to execute a little bit better tomorrow, but I think we have a great game plan in place for tomorrow. I was very pleased with how we battled throughout the round and the guys kept great composure for the entire day,” Coach Moe said.

The second and third rounds of the tournament were both played on Monday, and despite posting strong scores, the Gusties finished in second place overall.

Pedersen and Ullan both posted strong scores in the final two rounds and finished in second and fifth place overall, respectively.

Pedersen birdied four of his last eight holes and scored 75-69 in his final two rounds while Ullan posted a 78-70.

Senior Ben Hauge finished in 14th place in his final conference tournament with scores of 75-76 on the final day.

Czichotski rounded out the scorecard for the Gusties with 77-75 over the final two rounds to finish in 15th place.

“We played a great final round, shot two-over and lost six shots. I told our guys we left it all out there and played as hard as we could. I’m so proud of them and I would go to battle with our guys any day of the week. We have proven we are one of the better teams in the country. We had a great fall season and never finished worse than second place,” Moe said.

For their efforts, both Pedersen and Ullan earned All-Tournament honors.

The Gusties now transition to the offseason and will begin play again when the snow melts in the spring.