BECKER, Minn. – After a one-day break upon returning from the NCCAA North Central Regional in Indiana, the University of Northwestern Men's Golf team returned to action alongside the rest of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference to compete in the UMAC Preview Tournament. The event is held each year at the same course the Conference Championships are to be held at (Pebble Creek Golf Club in this case), and helps determine pairings for the championships as well. Northwestern put forth a solid effort with a third-place finish, and got a career-best showing from graduate student
Gordon Skaar (Coleraine, Minn./Homeschool).
Full results from the tournament can be viewed
here.
Skaar tied for the top spot in the field with a 73 (+1), including birdies on the 10th and 16th holes, but lost in the first playoff hole to a UW-Superior opponent. The 73 was the lowest round of Skaar's career at UNW.
Shane Seiffert (Corcoran, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), fresh off of qualifying for the NCCAA National Championships, made three birdies and fired a 76 (+4) to finish seventh.
Carson Mersberger (Kiel, Wis./Elkhart Lake-Glenbeaulah), competing as an individual since each team is only allowed five players to represent the school in the team competition, birdied the 10th and shot a career-best 82 (+10), which put him in a tie for 20
th. Fellow freshman
Noah Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) turned in an 83 (+11) to tie for 23
rd, while
Carter Dilly (Henning, Minn./Henning) tied for 27
th with an 84 (+12), which included a birdie on the par-4 third.
Mason Heidgerken (Melrose, Minn./Melrose Area) (individual competitor),
Mikey Vall (Eau Claire, Wis./Hillcrest Lutheran Academy) (individual) and
Trevor Zenk (Forest Lake, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) all tied for 33
rd with matching 85s (+13). Heidgerken picked up a birdie on 11, while Vall got out hot, playing his first five holes (after starting on the back nine) even-par. Zenk logged a birdie on the third hole. As a team, the Eagles finished +28, 12 strokes behind defending conference champion UW-Superior.
It will be another short turnaround for UNW until its next competition, as the Eagles will tee it up at the Central Kansas Classic on Monday and Tuesday.
