Central opens golf season at Simpson men’s invitational
Central Dutch Athletics
INDIANOLA — Mother nature finally allowed the Central College men’s golf team a chance to begin its season Wednesday morning, the team traveled to Indianola for the Simpson College spring invitational.
The tournament host Simpson College took the crown, firing an 18-hole combined score of 302. Central’s white team tied for second with a combined score of 306, Central’s red team carded a 312 and Central’s silver team finished with 317.
“It was nice for our guys to get out and compete today,” said coach Jon Olson. “We haven’t been able to get out and play as much as we would have liked but today allowed us to see where we matched up with some of the other teams in the area. There’s plenty of room to grow and we’ll continue to keep progressing.”
Sophomore Kobe Rhodes (Glenwood) led the red team with a 74, junior Drew Mendoza (Manitou Springs, Colo.) carded a 77, junior Trent Sann (Clarion, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows HS) finished with 80, junior Zach Hansen (Nevada) fired 81 and sophomore Nick Walker (Naperville, Ill., Neuqua Valley HS) shot 82.
“I thought we left a few shots out there today,” said Olson. “We made a few different course management mistakes that we will need to clean up going forward. Kobe kept his round together today and played really well on his back nine.
Joining Rhodes with a 74 was junior Nash Bucher (Huxley, Ballard HS), freshman Wyatt Crosby (Ottumwa), senior Tyler Paterson (Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) shot 77s, sophomore Dillon Peters (Urbandale, West Des Moines Valley HS) carded 78 and junior Jeremy Schwab (Beach Park, Ill., Zion Benton HS) shot 80.
“I was very happy with the way our second unit played today,” said Olson. “We have such a balanced team right now that their scores didn’t surprise me. The guys are working hard and are really buying in to our plans.”
The Dutch continue their spring season Friday at the Wartburg Invitational in Waverly at the Prairie Links Golf Course. An original 36-hole two-day tournament, the invitational has been changed to a one-day 18-hole event with a shotgun start at 10 a.m.
“We want to make sure we can get a look at the golf course with the Iowa Conference tournament being held there in a couple weeks,” said Olson. “We want to be able to get comfortable up there and make sure we are prepared as well as we can be.”
