Ethan Smith was the individual champion to lead the Iowa Western men's golf team to a fourth-place team finish at the Oakwood Intercollegiate, in Enid, OK., hosted by Dodge City Community College on Monday, March 18th and Tuesday, March 19th.
Smith, a sophomore posted 69 (-2) in the final round on the demanding and incredibly challenging test at Oakwood Country Club to capture the individual crown. He opened the tournament with a first round 74 (+3) and found his form to fire 69 (-2) during round two. The event featured thirty-six holes (rounds one and two) on Monday, with the final round (eighteen holes) finishing on Tuesday to complete the 54-hole test.
The Reivers, like many of the teams in the field, struggled to find their footing during round one. With temperatures in the upper twenties at the start of the event, round one was a grind mentally and physically. Iowa Western posted a first-round total of 311 and found themselves tied for 6th. Smith led IWCC with his 74 (+3), other scoring for round one came from Magnus Nielsen 78 (+7), Hiroto Tojo 79 (+8) and Shoma Taguchi 80 (+9).
Round two saw a nice turnaround as the men posted an afternoon team score of 294. Scoring was again led by Smith's 69 (-2), Taguchi battled back to fire a 73 (+2), Nick Slobbe played much better than round one to shoot 76 (+5) and rounding out the second-round scoring was Tojo who posted 76 (+5). IWCC moved up two spots on the leaderboard after round two, and sat tied for fourth with Dodge City CC.
On Tuesday, the Reivers started slow but then things started heading the right direction. Smith closed with another solid round of 69 (-2), Slobbe and Nielsen combined to shoot a pair of 73's (+2), Taguchi rounded out the team scoring with a 76 (+5). The Reivers closed with a final round team score of 291, which was their lowest round of the event.
IWCC also had two individuals playing in the field of 90 competitors. Sophomore Henry Kosmicki finished tied for 12th individually after posting rounds of 75 (+4), 71 (E), 75 (+4), and freshman Ryan Lingelbach finished tied for 38th after he posted rounds of 84 (+13), 74 (+3), 75 (+4).
Coach Norman was pleased with the team's first outing this spring. He had this to say, "I was pleased with our showing out of the gate. On this golf course and these greens, it was imperative that you left the ball in good spots or strokes were going to add up in a hurry. There were 5 of the top 15 NJCAA DI JUCO teams in the field, so to finish fourth overall and not have our best stuff, we will take it."
The men's golf team will be back in action April 1st and 2nd at the Allen B. Pease Classic hosted by Oklahoma City University. Rose Creek Golf Club in Edmond, OK will play host to the event.
