Staff Writer- Nathan Swanson
The men’s golf team began their spring season this last weekend on Friday, April 3rd as they competed in the two day Illinois Wesleyan Invitational in Normal Illinois. Two teams for Gustavus (A) and (B) played the course along with two individual players (Cole Paulson, and Ford Finster). While the conditions for the weekend were not optimal, especially the second day, the team stayed competitive and found a lot of positives to build from.
Both Kyle Peterson and Jimmy Abdo finished 1 under for the Invitational and were named the MIAC Men’s Golf Athletes of the Week. “I was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and back into competitive golf. There is just an awesome feeling of competitive golf that you can’t quite emulate during the off season. Also just going on a fun road trip with my team and getting to play some nice golf courses,” said Kyle Peterson.
Within the first 18 holes, the A group sat in 12th place overall. Jimmy Abdo eagled the 17th hole which was a par five of 525 yards. He also had a par on the last hole, which put him in 16th place shooting +1. Wyatt Carlson shot +1 within the first round of the tournament. Chris Gutuza and Pelayo Perez Crespo both shot +4 respectively, with Gutuza shooting a birdie on the 16th hole par three.
For the B group, they sat in second place after shooting +2 for the first 18 holes. Kyle Peterson had an impressive opening round as he shot -4 to finish in second place individually. His day included 4 birdies and an eagle on the 11th hole par five. “I was happy with my game all throughout. I was good off of the tee and around the greens especially. With the tough wind conditions it was important for my chipping and putting to be sharp, and I was proud that it was,” said Peterson. Aradheea Gawade finished even par. Sam LaFrenz shot +2 to finish with the third best score amongst the B group. Charles Looker shot +4 in the first round. In terms of other schools competing there were two other MIAC schools who took part in the tournament including Bethel University and Carleton College. For the first round Carleton was in third place shooting +3, and Bethel was in a tie for 6th place shooting +6.
As the event moved to the second day on Saturday, there was a shift in the weather that made playing conditions quite a challenge. The wetness was a serious factor on the course. “The second day was very different, very cold and high winds. The wet ground made the course play very very long. All of these things made it very tough conditions. You had to be very strategic and focused on each shot,” said Peterson. For Saturday the A group shot +21 collectively. Jimmy Abdo led the A group as he shot even par and finished with a score of -1. Chris Gutuza shot the second lowest score within the group as he shot +6 which brought his final score for the tournament to +10. Wyatt Carlson shot 40-38-78 and finished the invitational at +9. Blake Forrest shot 42-37-79. Overall, the A group finished the invite at +30, which tied them for 11th place with the B group.
For the B group they shot +28 for Saturday, and Peterson was the group leader as he finished third place individually at the invite. The second best score for the group was Zach Havron as he shot +6. Aradheea Gawade shot 42-37-79 to take the third best score for the B group. Sam LaFrenz shot +11 which brought his overall score to +13 for the tournament. In terms of individual performances both Adbo and Peterson finished well shooting -1 respectively. While they were held short of first place by just two shots, they together had the best combined score by two golfers from the same school in the tournament. Comparing Gustavus and the other MIAC schools; Bethel finished the invite at +33, and Carleton finished at +42. Men’s golf will have the next weekend off, and then on April 18th through the 19th they will host the Bobby Krig Invite. The Invite will take place at both the New Prague Golf Club and the LeSuer Country Club. “For the rest of the spring season we need to have a great amount of grit and focus for each round as every tournament is very important. We have a good shot at making the National Tournament so we need to keep working hard and giving our best each day to accomplish that goal,” said Peterson.