Chegwidden Competes in Medalist Playoff as WPU Ties for Second at Heart Tourney
William Penn University Athletics
Boonville, Mo.–Zachary Chegwidden (Fr., Essex, England, Business Management) was just one more spectacular shot away from extending his season to nationals and his efforts paced the Statesmen men’s golf team to its best league finish in decades at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships Monday and Tuesday.
William Penn tied for second out of 10 teams with a three-round score of 889 (307-292-290) at the par-71 Hail Ridge Golf Course. The navy and gold knotted up with #16 Mount Mercy, forcing a playoff with the Mustangs for the runner-up award. Unfortunately, WPU lost in the one-hole playoff that included all five players from both teams competing.
The program’s 290 was Tuesday’s lowest score and trimmed Grand View’s first-day lead from 19 down to eight by tournament’s end.
The 22nd-ranked Vikings won the title, holding off the Statesmen rally at 881 (292-288-301) to claim the league’s automatic berth to the NAIA National Championships from May 16-19 in Silvis, Ill.
While William Penn was fighting for a team crown, Chegwidden was also positioning himself to possibly gain a nationals berth as an individual. An opening-round 72 was followed by a second-round 71 and the freshman sat in third place (out of 53 players), trailing the leader by three shots entering the final 18 holes.
Chegwidden closed the Championships with the day’s lowest round at two-under 69 to finish at 212. Coupled with Mitch Pfingsten’s 72, Chegwidden had also forced a playoff for the individual title. Unfortunately, he three-putted on the first hole of extra play for a bogey and Pfingsten carded a par to finish GVU’s sweep.
Chegwidden’s finish is the team’s best since Cole Reiman won medalist honors in 2008.
“Zach had a chance to qualify for nationals as a freshman and that is quite an accomplishment,” Head Coach Steve Tucker said. “We are all disappointed that he came up short, but he was in a situation of a freshman against an upperclassman. He will hopefully come back even stronger next year and start winning those matchups.”
Frederik Lundsgaard (Jr., Jebjerg, Denmark, History/Government) provided a tremendous complement to Chegwidden, finishing sixth at 223 (79-71-73). After a frustrating opening round, the junior’s final 36 holes were fifth-best at the event.
Clay Tucker (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Elementary Education) (77-78-72) and Sebastian Rulis (Jr., Denmark, Business Management) (79-72-76) both finished in the top 20 as well, tying for 16th at 227.
Brandon Dizon (Sr., San Leandro, Calif., Sociology) wrapped up the Statesmen scoring as he tied for 32nd at 235 (79-78-78).
“Our guys have no reason to hang their heads,” Tucker said. “They did everything we could have asked of them and made up a lot of shots on the second day. We just dug ourselves too big of a hole after the first round and in the end, our efforts came up a bit short.”
“I told them that almost the entire record book has been re-written by them this year,” Tucker added. “We went into this season not receiving a lot of respect from others, but I believe we earned it, especially over the last two days. I am going to miss this group of seniors and appreciate everything they did for us, but we have a strong recruiting class coming in and we look forward to the future. I want to give a special thanks to student coach Justin Bothma for all the assistance he gave this year.”
