Rochester, MN-
After completion of the third round of play at the 2018 NJCAA Division III National Golf Championships at Chautauqua Golf Club, the M State-Fergus Falls Spartans reside in 4th place overall and within striking distance of a top two finish. Head coach Jason Retzlaff and his squad will look to close the game today in fourth and final round of play on the par 72 course in Chautauqua, New York.
On Thursday, M State shot a 310 overall round, bringing their three day total to 949. Vincennes University passed up Georgia Military after the third round, and Sandhills CC slid past the Spartans to move into a tie for second with GMC.
For the Spartans, Hunter Moen led his squad with a 74 in the third round, and in doing so, moved up to tie at 5th place individually. Teammate Mason Landborg shot a 79 and is 8th overall individually with a three day total of 23, which places him 6 shots behind the leader. Additionally, the rest of the Spartan squad found their grove as Nick Kress (77), Jordan Kern (80), and Blake Bloedorn (81) all posted their best rounds of the tournament.
Team Standings after Day 3, heading into the final round:
1.Vincennes University, 930
T2.Georgia Military College, 945
T2.Sandhills CC, 945
4.M State- Fergus Falls, 949
5.County College of Morris, 967
6.Bucks County CC, 985
7.SUNY Adirondack College, 995
8.Onondaga CC, 999
9.Massasoit CC, 1004
10.Anne Arundel CC, 1027
11.College of DuPage, 1037
12.Nassau CC, 1039
Coach Retzlaff had this to say about the M State performance through the first three days of competition:
"We really had a nice day today with 4 of our players carding their best round of the week. For the second consecutive day we got off to a nice start, but today did a better job finishing late in the day. It has been a pleasure coaching this team and we look forward to competing one more time in the final round of the National Championship tomorrow. Our team has played better each day and hopefully we can move up the board tomorrow. If we can get a few more putts to drop and avoid big numbers, there is potentially a special round left for this team."
"Hunter continues to play outstanding and has been a rock for us. Mason struggled finishing his round today, but it is great to see he and Hunter both in the hunt for an individual national championship. Nick Kress was extremely sharp today putting up his best round of the week."
The Spartans will tee off in the Final Round on Friday at 10:32 AM Central Standard Time.
Photo, courtesy of Jeff Haukos, is M State sophomore Nick Kress reading the green on the 7th hole at Chautauqua Golf Club.