Women’s Golf GPAC Tournament
By Olivia Dunklau
Photo Courtesy of Sower Staff
The Concordia Women’s golf team kicked off the GPAC Championship Monday, Oct. 5, in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.
After day one, the Bulldogs sat in fourth place with a score of 368 as a team, trailing only five strokes behind Jamestown and seven strokes from second place behind Dakota Wesleyan. With these three teams so close, Concordia had the chance to make a jump to third or even second place. The first place position would be a hard steal as Morningside sits with a solid 316.
Monday, the team teed off at 10 a.m. but seemed to struggle throughout the day, with scores sitting higher than usual. Sophomore Kendra Placke, who has been scoring in the 70s the past few tournaments, ended round one shooting a 90. Freshman Emily Jensen fell not too far behind shooting a 92; Freshman Logan Eschliman and Junior Andrea Peterson each roped in a 93, and Freshman Lauren Havlat sat with a 110.
“We improved as a team from day one to day two,” Head Coach Brett Muller said.
As the team resided in fourth after the first day, they looked on to Tuesday with hope. Now knowing the course, the Bulldogs hit the green much stronger. Peterson and Placke both improved their scores on Tuesday.
“Kendra struggled on the front nine of the first round,” Muller said. “Other than that, she played about how we expect her to play.”
Placke, scoring best on the team, ended with a final 82 and moved up to 10th place while Peterson shot an 86 and pulled ahead to 12th place. Eschliman and Jensen wrapped up the fall golf season in a tie for 23rd place while Havlat attained 50th. Havlat improved her score by 15 strokes on Tuesday with a par and two birdies to start her second round. Both Peterson and Placke improved their scores from Monday as well.
“Currently we are in 4th place,” says Muller. “Our team goal is to finish second in the GPAC. We are only 12 shots out of second in the GPAC. We are only 12 shots out of second place with 36 holes left in the spring.”
As a team, shooting a 368 on Monday and a 359 Tuesday, they end with a total of 727. Even though the team currently sits in fourth, they now sit with a hunger and drive for second place in the spring GPAC tournament. With the fall season coming to a close for the Bulldogs, they look to improve and prepare while awaiting the spring season.
“We will take a couple of weeks off before starting on the weight room with Coach Berner,” Muller said, “Around the third week of January, we will start hitting indoors for practice.”
The spring season has not yet been announced but the 2021 spring GPAC tournament will take place in Council Bluffs, Iowa at Bent Tree Golf Club.
