Men's Golf in 5th after Two Rounds at SCAC Championship
BLANCO, Texas – The University of Dallas men's golf team completed day one of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championship on Monday at the Vaaler Creek Golf Club. Dallas played two rounds on the day with a pair of 18-hole games.
The Crusaders started on the back nine in the first round. UD would turn in a rough start to the three-round tournament by combining for a team score of 339. Only Centenary College scored more strokes with a 347. Jacob Wade (Magnolia, Texas) shot the lowest score in that round for Dallas with an 80. Erik Hamm (Brentwood, Tenn.) followed a stroke behind with an 81.
In the final round that afternoon, the Crusaders shook off the jitters and posted a 319 to give them a 658 at the end of day one for fifth place out of six teams. Hamm is atop individually for the Crusaders with a 159 between the 36 holes (81, 78). Thomas Schuberg (Camarillo, Calif.) recovered after a tough first 18 to get within one of UD's leader at 160 (86, 74). Schuberg's 74 in the second round marked the fourth time this year and third this spring to notch that score. It improved one stroke from his final round on the Vaaler Creek Golf Course in 2016.
Hamm is in a tie for 15th and Schuberg is 17th in the overall standings. Wade rounds out the top three with 21st after posting a 165 (80, 83). Matthew Nickel (Wichita, Kan.) clipped eight strokes from his first round total to equal a 176 (92, 84) as the final score among the top four countable toward UD's final.
Southwestern University is in front at the end of the day compiling a 608 (303, 305). Texas Lutheran University started out with the best team score in the first round with a 301, but dropped to second with a 310 in the second turn through the course for a 611. Schreiner University did the opposite by shooting a 310 and then recovering for a round-best 302 to be one behind second and complete the top three at 612. Trinity University checks in at fourth with a 618 after being tied with Schreiner for third at mid-day. Dallas maintained fifth and Centenary rounds out the rankings at 694.
Individually, the top spot on the leaderboard is Southwestern's Matthew Christl with a 146 (71, 75). Taner Zimmerhanzel, who was seeded fifth on Texas Lutheran, delivered the best two rounds on the Bulldogs for second place with a 147 (73, 74). A trio of players are tied for third with 152s. TLU's Colin Uecker (73, 79) and Joseph Wolcik (79, 73) and Jason Lopez (75, 77) from Schreiner are locked in with that score.
After last year's championship was haulted on the first day due to weather, two completed slates were made in day one this spring and the day two should feature a competitive final round to dictate the Conference Title winners.