The Colorado Mesa Men’s Golf team finished up their regular season last week in Kansas when they competed in the Southwest Kansas Shootout at the Buffalo Dunes Golf Course.
Sophomore Grant Olinger took first overall out of the entire field of golfers. Olinger shot three under par.
Olinger ended the first day in second behind Jackson Bugdalski, who finished second overall at the end of the invite by shooting a 71. Olinger then took over the course from there by shooting a tournament-best 67 in the second round.
Olinger would finish strong and secure first place when he shot a 75 on the last day, and achieved a total score of 213.
The sophomore from Pomona high school was named RMAC Golfer of the Week last week to acknowledge his first place finish. He led the tournament in birdies with 13, and his second round score of 67 was a career best for Olinger.
Senior Trevor McKune put up the second best individual score for the Mavericks last week. McKune finished 16th overall with a score of 227, 11 over par.
McKune placed 16th overall for the second consecutive tournament. The first was the Mustang Intercollegiate Invite from two weeks ago.
Colorado Mesa shot 303 as a team on the first round, but then shot a 298 in the second round to keep their third place spot. The final round was much like the first two. The Mavericks shot a 304 and secured a third place finish in Kansas.
The Mavericks were able to put up the best score out of all the other DII teams in the tournament, and four of those schools were fellow RMAC competitors.
“We have been playing well lately and seem to be peaking at the right time and this event certainly helped that confidence level,” head coach Matt Ward said.
Indian Hills Community College would take home first place honors in the overall team competition, but the third place finish by the Mavericks matches their overall best team finish all season.
Coach Matt Ward acknowledges his team’s hard work, but knows they cannot settle or rest heading into the conference tournament.
“We are peaking at the right time. […] We’ve proven we can beat any team in the field on any given week, now we just need to do it in Phoenix next week.”
Colorado Mesa will head to Phoenix, Ariz. to compete in the RMAC Championships which will take place from April 24-25.
