Central’s Walker shines in sunny Florida men’s golf tourney

JUPITER, FLA.—Sneaking in some final fall season swings in Florida, the Central College men’s golf team got another consistent outing from Nick Walker (senior, Naperville, Ill., Neuqua Valley HS) at the inaugural Atlantic Invitational Monday.

Walker shot 75 as the Dutch stand third after one round of the 36-hole, four-team event. Babson University (Mass.) leads with 299, followed by Allegheny College (Pa.) at 301, Central at 313 and Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) at 317.

“Nick’s been our steady guy,” coach Mel Blasi said. “He played well from tee to green.”

Kobe Rhodes (senior, Glenwood) had 76 and Aiden Vollmar (Anthem, Ariz., Boulder Creek HS) shot 78 to go with an 84 by Colin Chromy (freshman, Naperville, Ill., Neuqua Valley HS). Dillon Peters (senior, Urbandale, West Des Moines Valley HS) shot 88.

“Kobe (Rhodes) hung in there,” Blasi said. “He didn’t hit the ball all that great but he had a good scoring round. It was just not getting that fourth score that hurt us. It we even get another 78, that’s a pretty decent team score.”

Central had three at-large individuals competing in the tournament. Ethan Loafman (freshman, Rogers, Ark.) shot 78, Wyatt Crosby (junior, Ottumwa) had 82 and Lucas Wendel (freshman, Le Claire, Pleasant Valley HS) shot 86.

“It’s good to see what Ethan is capable of,” Blasi said.

Blasi was impressed with the par-72 Jupiter Country Club.

“It’s a difficult course,” he said. “It was set up for more than 7,000 yards today. But we had ideal conditions.”

The only thing brisk was the pace of play. Monday’s round was completed in 2 hours, 45 minutes, one of the swiftest tournament rounds Blasi could recall in his lengthy coaching career.

The tourney concludes Tuesday morning.