ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Concordia University Men’s Golf Team has wrapped up its second tournament of the fall season. The Bulldogs held their seventh-place positioning in round two of the Siouxland Invite held Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 14-15) and co-hosted by Dordt and Northwestern. The field descended upon The Ridge (Sioux Center) and Landsmeer Golf Club (Orange City) and featured mostly GPAC squads.
Head Coach Brett Muller’s squad shot a two-round total of 314-321–635 (+67). That score marked a significant improvement the 356-319–675 total from last week’s Blue River Classic played in rainy and windy conditions.
“The wind blew a little bit harder today compared to yesterday,” Muller said. “We really struggled on the par 3’s today, causing our team score to rise. Overall, we struggled putting the last two days. Our short game will be the focus heading into next week. I thought Ivan (Yabut) played pretty solid both days. Drew (D’Ercole) made five birdies today, but had two double-bogeys that cost him.”
In the season to date, Yabut has been the team’s top performer (season 18-hole average of 79.0 through four rounds). He wound up placing in a tie for 21st out of 69 golfers at the Siouxland Invite while carding a total of 74-78–152 (+10). As the team’s No. 2 golfer, D’Ercole cut eight strokes off his total from Monday (83-75–158) and moved up into a tie for 31st on the individual leaderboard.
The Bulldogs entered two groupings (nine total golfers) into the tournament. In addition to Yabut and D’Ercole, the ‘A’ team included Jayden Neal (79-84–163; T-43rd), Landon Walkenhorst (78-85–163; T-43rd) and Nate Auffet (84-84–168; T-51st).
The next Concordia grouping of four featured Jacob Woodmancy (83-78–161; T-36th), Jack Williams (83-80–163; T-43rd), Taylor Johnson (84-84–168; T-51st) and Harrison Helmer (88-86–174; T-58th).
The Siouxland Invite included golfers from six GPAC opponents: Briar Cliff, Dordt, Hastings, Morningside, Mount Marty and Northwestern. Northwestern-St. Paul also participated in the event.
The Bulldogs now look forward to the Ottawa University Fall Invite next Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 21-22) at Eagle Bend Golf Course in Lawrence, Kan. Action is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. CT both days.
