Dutch climb final standings at Dubuque men’s golf tourney
Central College
DUBUQUE-The Central College men’s golf team, ranked No. 17 in a Division III preseason coaches’ poll, improved by 22 strokes en route to a seventh-place finish at the 18-team University of Dubuque Fall Invitational.
The Dutch fired a second-round 299 at the par-70 Dubuque Golf and Country Club and climbed four spots in the team standings with 321-299-620. Central’s second unit, the White team, finished third with 314-297-611. The Dutch squads were two of three teams to post a sub-300 score on Sunday.
Junior David Watson (San Diego, Calif., Patrick Henry HS) tied for 15th with 79-73-152. His 73 was a top-10 score on Sunday. Classmate Desmond Stoll (Lockport, N.Y.) finished one stroke behind Watson with 77-76-153, tying for 18th. Jared Nepomuceno (sophomore, Corona, Calif., Santiago HS) tied for 29th with 81-76-157, while Jacob Anderson (senior, Treynor) showed the greatest improvement between rounds with 84-74-158. Junior Adam Squires (Waterloo, Columbus HS) rounded out the lineup with 86-78-164.
“It was a lot better today,” coach Chad Green said. “We hit the ball about the same (as yesterday), but we were better around the greens. It was nice to show that we are a better team than how we performed yesterday, because we are not a 320-stroke team. We have some things we need to work on, but the key is putting it all together for 36 holes.”
For the White team, Jon Prescott (junior, Mendota, Ill.) fired an impressive one-over-par 71 on Sunday for 79-71-150, tying for 12th place with teammate Mike Maller (senior, Davenport, Central HS), who finished one stroke behind Prescott on the day and carded 78-72-150. Clay Curwin (junior, Faribault, Minn., Shattuck St. Mary’s HS) tied for 23rd with 81-74-155, while Sam Houge (sophomore, Urbandale) tied for 29th with 77-80-157. Brock Morris (freshman, Manchester, West Delaware HS) rounded out the lineup with 80-82-162.
“Jon played really solid golf today,” said Green. “Clay played a lot better than his score showed, as well. He played 27 holes right around par.”
Host Dubuque ran away with the team title by 27 strokes with 284-292-576. Clarke University finished second with 302-301-603. Josh Udelhofen of Clarke took home medalist honors with one-under-par 69-70-139.
The Dutch return to the course on Saturday and Sunday at the prestigious Gordin Division III Classic in Columbus, Ohio at Columbus Country Club. The classic matches the top 11 Division III teams, as determined by the previous year’s NCAA Men’s Division III Golf Championship, and host university Ohio Wesleyan in a small-college tournament.
