Golf team earns 4th at Augustana

The Chadron State golf team began the tournament in the Augustana Fall Invitational at Prairie Green Golf Course in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with a shaky start due to unfavorable weather conditions. The team improved by 28 strokes Sunday, to tie the University of Sioux Falls for fourth place out of eight teams.

Host Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, won the two-day invitational. The team shot identical rounds of 299. The scores stood as the lowest team scores of the weekend, cinching the win for the Vikings.

CSC had two golfers in the top 20 with Emma Harris, senior of Wahoo, with 85-82-167 to tie for 17th at the tournament and Sam Rahmig, freshman of Gering, with 88-81-167 to tie for 20th.

“I felt like I played pretty well, but could’ve done better at the same time,” Harris said. “My short game got me into trouble at times, especially from the sand. Our team didn’t do the best the first day, me included, but we came back the second day knowing that we all had to make up strokes, and we did that pretty successfully. I think the course and the weather had an effect on our game. Day one was super windy and probably the coldest weather we’ve ever played in, which makes it tough to shoot low. Day two was a little warmer and I think we were more comfortable with the course which allowed us to get some low scores.”

Schuler Wetzel, senior of Hot Springs, South Dakota, and Kelli Haynes, sophomore of Whitney, also had huge drops in strokes on the second day of the tournament. Wetzel went 90 the first day and 81 in the second round, equaling a 171 tournament total. Haynes went 91 and 82 to finish with 173. Mikayla Gallagher, sophomore of Hot Springs, South Dakota, shared the same sentiments as Harris concerning the dramatic improvement the team saw from the first to the second round.

“The first day was super cold and windy and we didn’t play the best,” Gallagher said. ‘But the next day the conditions were still a bit chilly but warmed up throughout the day and we all improved so that was a plus. I don’t think we’ve ever all improved the second day at a tournament. Also, we got pretty close to our school record for 18 hole team score so that was pretty neat.”

The Eagles will conclude their fall season Monday-Tuesday at the RMAC tournament #2, at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, New Mexico.