NORTH NEWTON, Kan. - With the attention of most of the golf world focused on Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday and Sunday, the Mid-America Christian University men's golf team hit the links in the Bethel College Spring invitational over the weekend. The Evangels were a part of the 15-team event, which was contested at two different courses - Hesston Golf Club and Sand Creek Station Golf Club - with 18 holes at each.
MACU posted a 10th place finish in the event, carding team scores of 303 and 313, respectively, for a 36-hole total of 616. MACU was 26 shots off the tournament's winning score, a 590 posted by Hannibal-LaGrange University (Mo.).
The event opened on Saturday at Hesston, and scoring conditions were good. Gage Gibson finished the round tied for 20th individually, shooting a 2-over par 73, and his teammates Austin Davis and Isaac Maston each shot a 76 and found themselves tied for 35th at the halfway mark of the event. Tyler Price posted the fourth counting score for the Evangels, a 78 that left him tied for 46th, and Wyatt Bonds rounded out the MACU lineup with an opening round 81.
Hannibal-LaGrange and Jamestown University (N.D.) shared the overnight lead after firing team scores of 288. Baker University (Kan.) and Ottawa University (Kan.) were each four shots back after opening rounds of 292, and Hastings College (Neb.) rounded out the top-five teams at 295.
Conditions were tougher on day two, as no team posted a sub-300 score in the round.
Gibson again paced the Evangels, moving up a spot on the leaderboard and finishing tied for 19th (151) with a final round 78. Isaac Maston finished alone in 22nd at 152 (76-76) by shooting the Evangels' low round of the day, and Tyler Price shot a 77 to finish tied for 30th (155). Austin Davis finished the event tied for 48th (76-83; 159), and Wyatt Bonds finished in a 58th-place tie at 163 (81-82).
HLGU shot the low team round of the day, finishing the final round with a score of 302 to claim the victory with a 36-hole score of 590 (+18). Ottawa passed Jamestown for second with a 307 to finish nine strokes off the pace, and Jamestown hung on to third with a 313 (601). Oklahoma Wesleyan University moved into the top-five with a 307 to finish at 603, and Hastings held on to fifth (604) with a 309.
Matt Rees of Hastings and Conor Brady of HLGU finished in a tie for the tournament medalist spot with a 36-hole total of even-par 143, with Rees claiming the title in a playoff. Connor Preston of Dakota Wesleyan University (144; 71-73) finished third; while Riley Kemmer (Baker; 71-75), Nick Waite (Oklahoma Wesleyan; 72-74), and JT Engelbart (Ottawa; 73-73) finished in a tie for fourth at 146.
MACU will wrap up their regular season on April 16 and 17 when they head north to take on the Deuce at the National Golf Club in Kansas City, Missouri. There, they will participate in the Virginia McCoy Intercollegiate hosted by Park University in their final tune-up before the Sooner Athletic Conference Shampionship.
