DWU women win Palace City Classic, men finish second
The Dakota Wesleyan women’s golf team took advantage of playing at home during the eighth annual Palace City Classic Friday and Saturday. The Tigers claimed the team title with a 675, setting themselves above the rest of the field by 16 strokes. Northwestern came in second with a 691 and Iowa Central carded 722 strokes for third.By: Brooke Cersosimo, The Daily Republic
- Emilie Palo
The Dakota Wesleyan women’s golf team took advantage of playing at home during the eighth annual Palace City Classic Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers claimed the team title with a 675, setting themselves above the rest of the field by 16 strokes. Northwestern came in second with a 691 and Iowa Central carded 722 strokes for third.
“We played more like we’re capable of playing (Saturday),” head coach Adam Anderson said. “Anytime we can win by 16 strokes, we can feel good about our performance.”
Tournament play was split between Mitchell’s two golf courses, Lakeview and Wild Oak. Day one was played at Lakeview Friday and the tournament concluded at Wild Oak Saturday.
“It’s really nice to be able to use both courses in town because it gives our tournament a little bit different flare than a lot of other college events,” Anderson said. “I feel like it’s a really unique event that they get the opportunity to play two really nice golf courses in two different days. I think it’s something that the teams who come here year after year really look forward to.”
DWU had three golfers finish in the top five, earning them all-tournament honors. Freshman Lauren Fitts led the Tigers with a third-place finish with 166 strokes, and Chelsea Burback and Natalie Turner tied for fifth place shooting 170 in two rounds.
“I was happy that we had 3 of 5 on the all-tournament team,” Anderson said. “We had a strong performance today and it’s hard for teams to beat our girls because we’re pretty balanced, especially when we play well like we did today.”
Northwestern’s Emma Wynja, who beat Iowa Central’s Emily Elliot in a playoff round, won the tournament shooting a 163.
DWU’s Talia Peters finished in a three-way tie for seventh place with 171 strokes, Jenna Winckler carded a 173 for 11th place and Chelsea Boddicker, who played as an individual, tied for 20th with a 183.
Fitts said the Tigers, who were in first place after the first round, used the momentum coming into the final day of the tournament.
“We all know we could’ve played better (Friday), but it helps know that going into a harder course at Wild Oak that we did well not playing our best,” she said. “I think we played well (Saturday). There were a few places where I could’ve done better, but I’m just a freshman and I’m still learning.”
The DWU men’s team shot a 610, finishing second behind Northwestern College, which scored a 574 in the tournament.
The Tigers were only seven strokes back after the first round of play, but dropped immensely during the second round.
“The guys shot their lowest team score of the year (Friday), so it was a good performance and I was happy with the way we set ourselves up coming into (Saturday),” Anderson said.
“We left a lot of strokes out on the golf course (Saturday) and played poorly. I think we had a lot of mental mistakes and sometimes we try to force shots when they’re not there.”
This is the third straight year in which the men’s team hasn’t won the Palace City Classic.
“Anytime you can play on your home course, you feel like you have a little bit of an advantage,” Anderson said. “We always look forward to playing well and looking at it as a chance to earn a victory, but you can’t win unless you play well. We just didn’t do that.”
Tyler Burr led the Tiger men with a 151, finishing in a tie for seventh place. Mac Young and junior varsity player Kyle Higgins tied for ninth with a 152. Austin Hieb and Josh Korn each shot 154 for 14th place, Anthony Huster, a junior varsity player, took 17th with a 156, Travis Johnson finished 19th with a 157 and junior varsity player Broderick Baker tied for 20th with 159 strokes.
Both DWU squads return to action today, with the men’s team taking part in the Hastings College Swan Song Invitational in Hastings, Neb., and the women participating in the two-day NAIA National Preview Tournament in Lincoln, Neb.
Tags: sports, updates, dwu, tigers, golf
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