Men's Golf Places 3rd at NAIA Championships; Highest Finish in GPAC History
(Silvis, IL) – Coming into the final round of NAIA Men’s Golf National Championships in a tie for third after shooting the second-best score on Thursday, the Broncos continued their strong play on Friday to secure third place at +45. Hastings is officially now the highest finisher at the NAIA Championships in GPAC history, becoming the first team in conference history to make the cut for the final two rounds.
(Silvis, IL) – Coming into the final round of NAIA Men's Golf National Championships in a tie for third after shooting the second-best score on Thursday, the Broncos continued their strong play on Friday to secure third place at +45. Hastings is officially now the highest finisher at the NAIA Championships in GPAC history, becoming the first team in conference history to make the cut for the final two rounds.
Senior Ryker Dunkley had a great performance in round four, totaling three birdies on the back nine to shoot even, leading to finishing tied for seventh overall at +6. Sophomore Taiki Sugawara posted a +10 in round four, as he ended up placing 24th with an overall score of +12.
Senior Henry Kosmicki had a couple of birdies early in the final round, eventually ending at +2 on the day, and jumped 14 spots on the leaderboard to finish 43rd at +17. Senior Max Nielsen ended the round at seven over, making him 48th overall at +18. Sophomore Blake Eddy completed the Bronco lineup in round four, going four over on the day.
In the rounds leading up to the final round, Hastings was in second place after day one, shooting +8 and trailing USAO by seven strokes. They dropped to ninth on day two following a score of +21, but rebounded by posting the second best score in round three at three over to move into a tie for third place going into the final day.
Dunkley was +3 and +5 in his first two rounds, then had a great round three at two under with five birdies to move into 16th and a combined score of +6. Sugawara shot -1 in round one (+7 in round two) and -4 in round three. Both were top five marks individually, with round three being the best of all competitors, which moved him to a tie for fifth overall at +2 and just three shots back of first place individually for the top spot.
Nielsen was three over in each of his first two rounds, including two under on the back nine on day one, then went +5 in round three to move to 32nd at +11. Kosmicki ended day one at five over, then went +6 and +4 in his next two rounds, moving to 57th at +16. Eddy was +3 in round one (+15 on day two) and junior Josh Chapman filled in for the Broncos in round three, going +5 on the day.
The Broncos end their historic season by achieving the highest finish in school and GPAC history at the NAIA Championships. By placing in the top 15 at the NAIA Championships individually, Dunkley was named to the All-Tournament team.
