The Augustana Men’s Golf team nears the end of their season and has turned in a couple of top ten finishes in order to finish off the 2019 campaign.
The Quad City Intercollegiate will be the final tournament for the 2019 Men’s Golf season. The competition will be held at the Highland Springs course, here in Rock Island, Illinois, on Saturday, Oct. 19.
The Viking’s golf season started out slow at the Tim Kopa Memorial Tournament on Sept. 6. The team Finished 17th of 20 teams on day one and took 19th place on day two to finish off the tournament. However, there was a bright spot as Augustana’s top golfer on the weekend, Jack Nennan, took 44th place of 105 competitors.
Following their opening tournament the Vikings finished 22nd of 36 at the Midwest Region Classic. The Vikings broke into the top 10 in their next tournament finishing fourth out of 14 in the Clarke Fall Classic. The performance included a top 20 finish from Hunter Love to lead the Vikings.
The Vikings followed that performance up finishing 10th out of 14 in the CCIW preview. Jack Neenan again lead the Vikings as he finished fifth in the tournament.
The team recently completed the eighth competition of the season and tied for fourth place overall out of 14. This performance was carried out at the Elmhurst Fall invitational on Sept. 26. Earning a collective score of 310, their best all season. Junior, Dylan Flock, finished in 9th place of 80 athletes, earning top golfer for the Vikings during the tournament.
Consistent top golfers for the Vikings include Juniors Jack Neenan and Dylan Flock, and first-year, Tyler Langel. The three boys have each participated in 4 – 8 events of the season and hold the three best averages for the team. Neenan, with an average of 78.1 followed by Langel at 39.8 point average, and in third, Dylan Flock averaging out with a score of 80.3.
The senior leadership for the Vikings has been essential to the Vikings success. Two seniors, Cory Jayne and Michael Sell have attempted to do just that for the Vikings. Sell has competed in 2 events this year, with an average score of 88.0 points.
“Personal goals keep me moving forward to always do better and try to learn from past mistakes,” Sell said.
Jayne has competed in three events this season, with an average score of 80.3 points. With only two seniors on a majority freshman team, a challenge presents itself in the lack of tournament experience among the newer golfers.
“I do believe that our freshmen have a lot of potential and I look forward to seeing them improve over their four years here,” Jayne said.
Jayne shoots to end his season on a high note with an average score under 80.