MARYVILLE, Mo. – NIACC sophomore Devin Koob shot a 79 during the first day of the Graceland University Spring Invitational on Friday at the Mozingo Lake Golf Course.
NIACC is in 10th place in the 2-day tournament with a 344. Culver-Stockton is the first-day leader with a 300 and Park University is in second with a 304.
“Devin Koob did a nice job of battling the conditions out here (Friday),” NIACC coach Chris Frenz said, “which were cold and extremely windy.
“He found a way to keep his score in the 70s and that’s what I expect from my No. 1 player. It’s obviously early in the season, so I’m not overly concerned with any of the guys at this point, but we do need see them manage the course a little better under difficult, hard to score, conditions.”
Also for NIACC on Friday, Josh Schaefer shot an 87, Ben Boerjan shot an 88, Mitchell Scholl shot a 90 and Jordan Voves recorded a 93.
NIACC’s Anthony Emanuel shot an 83 playing as an individual.
“Anthony Emanuel put together a decent round for us too and hopefully he keeps that rolling and goes lower once the weather starts to warm up,” Frenz said.
The second round of the season-opening tourament is slated to start at 9 a.m. Saturday.
For the NIACC women, sophomores Courtney Tusler and Brooke Maasch both shot 105s to lead the NIACC women’s golf team Friday in the first round of the Graceland University Spring Invitational.
NIACC is in fifth place heading into Saturday’s second round with a 428.
Baker University is the first-day leader with a 366. Culver-Stockton is in second with a 372 and Waldorf University is in third with a 373.
“The temperatures reached about 52 degrees but a strong wind of 20-30 miles an hour made it much colder than that and made scoring conditions difficult,” Frenz said. “This was a tough test of golf and honestly I thought the women did OK.
“They all know they are better than they scored (Friday) but this course played long for them due to the wind and it was a tough mental challenge throughout the day.”
Also for the Lady Trojans on Friday, freshman Morgan Luecht shot a 107 and freshmen Ashley Alert and Sydney Fullerton both shot 111s.
Playing as individuals for the Lady Trojans were sophomores Katelyn Loegering (103) and Kelli Wilson (112).
The second 18 holes of the two-day tournament is slated to start at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“I know they aren’t happy with their scores but this is the type of weather we could run into during the regional tournament,” Frenz said, “so they have to figure it out.
“We’ll get a good night sleep (Friday) and hope the weather holds on Saturday so we can get some golf in.”
