On September 28th and 29th, the Vandals men’s golf team traveled to St. Louis, Missouri to compete in the SIUE Dolnec Invitational, hosted by SIUE. They played in the Gateway National Golf Club at 6,985 yards at par 71. The team ended the two-day event with a solid 5th place out of 17 teams with a three-round total of 847 (-5).
The men’s golf team began strong with a first-round score of 9-under-par, leaving us tied for second place with UT Martin. This was then followed by another impressive round with a score of 10-under-par, giving the Vandals first place tied with UT Martin passing Bradley University who began with the strongest first round score of 12-under-par.
This left the Vandals with a two-round total of 19-under-par which was not a safe lead as they were tied with UT Martin and being quickly trailed by Bradley who had a two-round total of 18-under-par. In the final round the Vandals slowed down with a round three total of 298 (+14) pushing the team down 4 places to 5th place ending the event at 5-under-par.
The promising recruit for the Vandals, Freshman Brae Rogalczyk, showed out in the SIUE Dolnec Invitational by once again leading Idaho placing second, carding rounds of 67-66-71 for a 204 (-9). He was only beaten out by Northern Iowa’s Tanner Dinnebier who placed first with 10-under-par carding rounds of 68-67-68. Regardless, Brae Rogalczyk played an excellent game where he did not hit over par for any round.
Junior Charley Simpson also played a very solid game tying for 24th place with a total of 213. He began with a first-round finish at 4-under-par and continued that streak with a round two score at 2-under-par. In the third round he cooled off finishing at 6-over-par leaving him at par for the tournament.
Rounding out the Vandals men’s golf lineup is Sophomore Ben Buchanan tying for 44th place at 4-over with a solid round two performance at 3-under-par, Senior Carter Frisby tying for 48th at 5-over-par with a solid round one performance at 2-under-par, Freshman Moritz Ampenberger, competing as an individual, tying for 52nd place at 6-under, and Sophomore Henry Koglin tying for 70th place with 11-over-par.
Overall an impressive steady pace for the Vandals for the first two rounds with a slip up third round that lost them first place. A fifth place finish was still a great performance by the men’s golf team following their slow start in the opening tournament.
First place finisher Bradley ended with 15-under-par showing how high the bar was this invitational with the top seven teams finishing under par. Second place was not far behind with SIU Edwardsville ending at 13-under-par.
Third place finisher UT Martin had a very similar game to the Vandals opening the first two rounds with the same score then ending with a weaker third round although they had 8-over-par round three leaving them at 11-under-par for the tournament. Western Illinois was the final team ahead of the Vandals with a final score of 7-under-par.
The next tournament for the Vandals is next week on Monday, October 5-6 at the OSU Invitational, hosted by Oregon State.