Men's Golf | 9/17/2024 8:58:00 PM
HUDSON, Wis. - The University of Minnesota Crookston men's golf team placed second out of 13 teams at The Fall Brawl at Troy Burne Golf Club in Hudson, Wis. The second-place finish in a field of 13 is the highest the Golden Eagles have had in the field that large in the last 15 seasons.
Minnesota Crookston is off to one of their best starts in program history, placing second at The Fall Brawl, and fourth of 20 teams at The Mule.The Golden Eagle B squad placed 10th in the field. The Golden Eagles shot rounds of 297 and 287. The 287 tied for the second best round since 2009. Minnesota Crookston has shot four of the program's best five rounds since 2009 in their first two tournaments.
Ross Koerner (Fr., Grand Forks, N.D.) led the Golden Eagles as the newcomer shot rounds of 73 and 70 to place tied for fifth in the field. Marc Bofarull Balleste (So., Barcelona, Spain) tied for eighth after shooting scores of 74 and 72. Minnesota Crookston has had three Top 10 finishes in the first two tournaments, with Koerner and Bofarull Balleste joining Andrew Wilhelm. The Golden Eagles had two Top 10 finishes in the entire 2023-24 season.
Holdyn Evjen (Fr., Hermantown, Minn.) finished his first collegiate tournament placing tied for 14th with rounds of 71 and 76. Lukas Justesen (Sr., Detroit Lakes, Minn.) carded rounds of 75 and 73 to tie for 18th. Andrew Wilhelm (So., Fargo, N.D.) tied for 23rd with scores of 75 and 74. Layton Bartley (Sr., Fargo, N.D.) scored a 78 and 72. Carson Shultis (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) shot rounds of 74 and 78. Gannon Walsh (Jr., Belgrade, Minn.) tallied scores of 76 and 77. Connor Czirjak (So., Calgary, Alberta) carded scores of 76 and 83. Gabe Weller (Fr., Alexandria, Minn.) shot rounds of 77 and 86. Julian Nieto (Jr., Bucaramanga, Colombia) shot scores of 84 and 87.
The Golden Eagles have 12 rounds of 72 or under through the first two tournaments.
Concordia University-St. Paul won the team championship by seven strokes over the Golden Eagles. Minnesota Crookston picked up wins over Augustana University, Winona State University, Minot State University, University of Sioux Falls, two Minnesota State University squads, University of Mary, the second Concordia-St. Paul team, Upper Iowa University, and North Central University. Mason Weeks of the University of Sioux Falls was the individual champion.
Minnesota Crookston will compete at the Watkins Invite September 23 and 24 in Lake City, Minn.
