WILLMAR, Minn. - Even non-golfers get the golfing itch come Master's week, so it's probably a good thing that the University of Northwestern Men's Golf team will be satisfying what surely is an insatiable itch to get out on the course by playing in the UMAC Spring Event this weekend. Previously a match play event, the scoring has been modified this year to a two-man best ball, Stableford format (
explanation here). For those unfamiliar, "best ball" is when both teammates play their own ball, and the team records the lowest of the two scores each hole. All UMAC teams are participating in the event and the teams have been split up into two flights: "Icy Blue" and "Maroon."
Day One
In the "Icy Blue" flight, the brotherly tandem of
Luke Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) and
Noah Frazell (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock) paced the Eagles with a score of 40, which is just one point shy of the day-one leaders from UW-Superior. Two more teams of Eagles are tied for fifth with 36 points:
Carter Dilly (Henning, Minn./Henning)/
Trevor Zenk (Forest Lake, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy), and
Jakob Swanson (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview)/
Andrew Carlson (Mosinee, Wis./Mosinee). Another pair of Northwestern teams are next to each other on the leaderboard as well--
Jackson Courteau (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) and
Carson Mersberger (Kiel, Wis./Elkhart Lake-Glenbeaulah) sit in a tie for 12th at 34 points, while "Team Carson" (
Carson Moscoso (Maple Grove, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) and
Carson Besonen (Madison, Minn./Lac qui Parle Valley)) are one point back with 33.
Due to the number of participating players, UNW's
Dawson Burke (Rogers, Minn./Maple Grove) was paired with Ashton Stansfield from North Central, and the pair tallied 30 points. In the "Maroon" flight, the Northwestern tandem of
Noah Carlson (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) and
Tanner McNamee (Blaine, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) put up 36 points to take a big lead on the rest of the field, which did not include any more Eagles.
The Eagles will be back at Eagle Creek Golf Club for the second and final day of the event on Saturday, with tee times beginning at 8:33 AM.
