May 3, 2010
Well, our season ended this past week with a second place finish at the AMC tournament. Unfortunately for us, Malone has been the top team in our conference for the past few years. They are a very good team (Ranked 3rd Nationally in the NAIA) and could compete very well with most NCAA Division I teams. Although our goal at the beginning of the season was to win the conference tournament, we knew it would have taken all five of us playing to the best of our abilities.
Besides Matt Krogstad, the team struggled with our ball-striking all week. We were forced to rely on our short game to try to grind out the best score we could. Although our score of 931 was not enough to win, we were able to jump from third to second in the final day. I know a few of us were not happy with our performance, but a second place finish in the conference (behind the number 3 team in the nation) is an accomplishment.
As I mentioned, Matt played very well this week. He ended his career with scores of 73-72-78, which placed him fourth individually in the conference. Matt had an awesome career and I know he will be missed by Coach and the rest of the team. It was a pleasure playing with him for my four years here as well. We both went through a lot of highs and lows here, but we really enjoyed our time on the Cedarville Golf Team. I know we both grew a lot and are blessed to have had an opportunity to play at such an awesome school.
After a long tournament on Thursday and Friday, Matt and I returned to campus and had to prepare for graduation Saturday morning. We could not believe our four years were already finished. It seemed like yesterday the two of us moved into St. Clair Room 139 together as freshmen. (My words of advice to the incoming freshmen: Really enjoy your time at Cedarville. It's an awesome Christ-centered school and to have an opportunity to play golf here is such a blessing.) I am so thankful for Matt as a friend, roommate, and teammate the past few years. Best of luck for the future!
Again, I want to thank you for keeping up with the golf team and reading this BLOG all year. We all appreciate your support throughout the year. Hopefully I was able to give you an inside look to the 2009-10 golf team.
Good Luck next year boys! I will miss you all.
April 26, 2010
As I mentioned last week, the team was in first place after Day 1 of the Cedarville Invitational. Unfortunately, we didn't finish the tournament very well. We placed second behind Cumberlands (who is currently ranked as one of the top teams in the NAIA). This was a great disappointment after a six stroke lead going into the final round. We would have loved to bring home our own tournament's trophy.
Although the result of the tournament didn't turn out as well as we hoped, I believe there were strong positives that we can build on and take into our conference tournament this weekend. Brigham Michaud shot a four-under par 68 the first round, but struggled the second day with an 80. This put him one stroke behind the medalist. Matt Yeiter can also build on some success this week. After a poor round the first day, he came back firing 19 strokes better (73, which was second lowest round of the day) the second day.
We hope to practice hard and build on our successes from last week to play well this week in Mt. Vernon. We are playing our conference tournament at Apple Valley Golf Club Thursday and Friday. The winner of the tournament not only becomes conferences champions, but also receives an automatic bid to the national championship.
Well, I want to thank you all for reading my blog this year. I hope it gave you an inside look to the golf team! I can't believe graduation is already here. Matt Krogstad and I both graduate Saturday after four awesome years at Cedarville. We have both been blessed by SO many people here. God has really used people in our time here at Cedarville to equip us to be better Christian leaders for the future.
Thanks to our friends, family, teammates, hall mates, and everyone else that has supported us in our time here. I want to especially thank Coach Bowen for everything he has done in the past four years. He has constantly taken time away from his busy schedule to take us to tournaments, help us with our golf games, or just answering the 15 emails we send him a day. Thanks Coach! Best wishes for next year!
April 19, 2010
Well, for the first time in my four-year career here, we had amazing weather for our Cedarville Invitational. Today's (Monday) first round saw sunny blue skies, calm winds, and 65-degree weather. The last three years, our home invitational has been rainy, cold, and windy. We were all very thankful for the weather today!
Along with the weather, the golf was also good. We shot a team score of 301 (at Beavercreek Golf Club), which put us five strokes ahead of the second place team. Although we have a small lead, there are two really good teams within a few shots. We will have to play well tomorrow (Tuesday at Country Club of the North) to keep the lead and bring home a win.
It was exciting to bounce back today with a good round after our poor outings the last couple weeks. We hope to bring home a victory tomorrow and use that momentum going into our conference championship next week!
Individually, Brigham Michaud played extremely well, shooting a career low score of 68 (-4). He currently holds a two shot lead for the individual title. Matt Krogstad shot a steady 74 and stands in fourth place. I know both of them would love to play well tomorrow and have a chance at the medalist honors.
Thanks to all the parents who made the trip to Cedarville to support us this week!
April 12, 2010
Well, I hate to keep reporting bad results, but today was no different than the last couple tournaments. This week we are at Taylor's tournament at Purdue University's course (Kampen). It's a very tough Pete Dye design that can really penalize less than great shots.
Again we battled stiff winds and ended with a team score of 330. Unfortunately this put us in 5th place (14 strokes out of the lead). This is a pretty large margin to overcome at a tough course like Kampen, but I believe we have the ability to do it. It will take four of us to play excellent golf (and a score under 300), but with some focus, it can be done! We shot a score of 294 at Shawnee State, so we know we can do it.
We look forward to a new day on Tuesday. Hopefully we can play better!
Last week update: Unfortunately we finished in Mt. Vernon as poorly as we began the tournament. The winds the second day were consistently over 20 miles an hour and we did not respond well to the adverse conditions. We finished the second round with a score of 320 (which was good enough for second place). Matt Krogstad had a good individual showing, placing third overall. He had scores of 74-79-153.
We're also excited for our home invitational next week. We will play the first day at Beavercreek Golf Club (Monday) and the second at Country Club of the North (Tuesday). We hope to bring back the trophy to Cedarville after a disappointing second-place finish last year.
Thanks for reading!
April 5, 2010
This week we are playing at Mount Vernon Nazarene's tournament (Monday and Tuesday). Unfortunately we had another rough day today. We struggled through the windy conditions shooting a score of 311 (13 strokes behind the leaders - Ohio Dominican University).
Although our poor play has put us in a tough position for a win, if we all play well on Tuesday, I believe we have a chance of bringing home the first place trophy. It's a course that a lot of birdies can be made. Hopefully we relax and put up a good score!
The one bright spot for the team today was Matt Krogstad. He battled some putting woes throughout the round, but maintained his solid ball-striking to shoot a score of 74 (putting him 3 strokes out of the tournament lead). I know he would love to bring home another team and individual championship!
Sorry I don't have a whole lot to update you since last week. I'll leave you with our team verse for the spring. I Corinthians 16:14-14, "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love." We have been studying this verse as a team this season.
ps... I want to wish a Happy Birthday to Chris today!
March 29, 2010
This past week was the SEKI (Southeastern Kentucky Invitational). When we arrived in London, Kentucky on Wednesday for our practice round, the weather was almost perfect.....70 degrees and no wind. However, we knew Thursday and Friday's weather forecasts didn't look as positive.....so we tried to enjoy the weather while we could.
As I have mentioned before, some of the most memorable times we share together as a golf team happen in the hotel the nights before our tournaments. This week we actually got to stay up and watch some awesome Sweet 16 games together (sorry to anyone in the hotel that we might have woken up from our outbursts during the Xavier vs. Kansas St. game :) It was a double-overtime thriller that we all got excited about the buzzer beaters and crazy plays.
We battled on-and-off rain on Thursday and struggled as a team. We shot a score of 316 (8th place). Friday did not fair any better for us. We battled near-freezing temperatures for most of the round and finished poorly with a score of 334 (finished 10th place out of 19 teams).....a tournament we would like to move on and forget about for sure.
Although we were extremely disappointed with our finish, we have a week here to practice hard and prepare for our next tournament. We leave on Sunday for Mount Vernon Nazarene's tournament.
I know we will improve and play better next week. In September, when we struggled at Lindenwood's tournament, we bounced back with a victory at the next tournament (CU Fall Invitational). Hopefully we can bounce back again and grab a victory in Mount Vernon next Tuesday!
March 22, 2010
Well, this weekend was a big success for the team! We had our first tournament of the spring at Shawnee State’s Invitational. We actually won the tournament by 15 strokes! We all knew the importance of starting the spring out with a good tournament (and defending our title from last year was a goal as well).
Our first round on Friday went very well. Senior Matt Krogstad and sophomore Brigham Michaud led the way shooting one-under par rounds of 71. We came in with a total of 294 which was good enough for a 10-shot lead over Ohio Dominican University.
The team didn’t play quite as well on Saturday, but we still managed to increase our lead with our score of 304. Matt struggled a little at the beginning of the round but finished with a couple birdies on the last few holes to shoot 72. His one under score of 143 was good enough for a six stroke individual victory. Congrats Matt!
What made the weekend even better was the warm weather. Normally Ohio weather in March can be pretty rough. Over my four years here, I have played in snow, wind, rain, ice, sleet, and about anything else you could imagine. So we were extremely thankful for the 70 degree weather this weekend. Huge blessing!
Although it’s always fun to leave campus for a few days to play golf, some of the most memorable events happen in the hotel the night before we play. Nights normally consist of a team meeting, devotions, and prayer (and not doing homework for once).
This weekend was fun because the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament were on TV. A few of us stayed up until 1 a.m. watching all the crazy upsets. We didn’t care that our brackets were completely shot.....it was just fun to hang out with the guys, eat a pizza, drink Mountain Dew, and watch some good basketball.
March 15, 2010
It feels like forever since my last blog at the end of the fall season. I will do my best to give you an inside look to the golf team this 2010 season.
This past week was actually our first full week back in Ohio after our amazing Spring Break. Every year we spend a week in Lakeland, Florida playing and practicing in preparation for the spring season. The week was actually a little chilly for Florida standards, but we still loved it (when we thought about the foot of snow that was still on the ground in Cedarville when we left).
We battled strong winds, tough courses, and high scores most of the week, but it was still great to practice and hit off real grass for once. I really feel like all of our games improved.
Although we spend hours on the course, we did have a lot of fun in the evenings as well. One night we went to a couple Florida State Championship basketball games. The other nights consisted of ping pong, darts, late night Wal-Mart runs, and just hanging out.
Of course the food was amazing as well (Thanks to the Green’s for dinner a couple of nights). It’s always nice to get off campus and eat some real meat every once in a while!
I can’t talk about our trip without thanking a few people who made it possible first. Thanks from all of us to the Greens, Greens, and the Davison’s for being so generous and hosting us for the week. I also want to thank Pastor Bill Boulet for everything he does for us every year! Lastly, I want to thank Coach Bowen (and his family while he was gone) for all his planning and efforts toward this awesome trip.
Since we’ve been back, the weather has actually been pretty good. There was still some snow when we got back Sunday, but the temperature in the 50’s has melted it quickly. It made for wet golf courses the past week, but it has been great just to get outside and play on Ohio bent grass again!
Today and tomorrow are actually our final rounds of qualifying to see who makes it into the top five for Shawnee State this coming weekend. I know that no matter who makes it into the top five, we will still have a great chance of defending our title from last year. Everyone seems to be playing fairly well right now. Thankfully this year the weather looks to be fairly good. You never know what kind of weather you can get in March around Ohio.
Thanks for reading! We are excited to serve God through the game of golf this spring!
Oct. 19, 2009
Well, this is the last blog of the fall season. It was awesome giving everyone an inside look to the golf team. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll probably start up again in March when the spring season begins.
As I said in my previous blog, we spent last week in Panama City Beach, Florida for NCCAA Nationals. It was an awesome tournament. The 90-degree, sunny weather helped for sure!
Last time, I posted in the middle of the tournament and told you that we were in 10th place after the first round. The team ended up finishing very strong, shooting two consecutive rounds of 303 on the very tough layout. This was good enough to move us into 7th place.
I know the sophomores and juniors were excited about that because that means we automatically get invited back to next year’s championship (the top 9 finishers get automatic spots for next year’s tournament). One more year of Florida in October!
Matt Krogstad and Chris Bennington both had very good tournaments. They finished with a 54-hole score of 226 and only missed All-America status by one shot. The rest of the team played really well, too. Everyone contributed to the successful tournament.
It feels really good to end the season on a good finish. We struggled all season and this will help motivate and keep us going during winter practices. Hopefully, we can take this momentum through the cold months and translate it into a successful spring season.
Well, now it’s off to the books. Sometimes it’s tough to balance missing class and all the demands of golf season. It’s easy to get behind. Now it’s time to buckle down and study hard for the rest of the semester.
As a team, we generally take November and December off. We might go to the range and hit a few balls here and there, but mostly we just take some time to relax and focus on our studies. We will start hitting the range hard again in January to get us prepared for the spring season. I already can’t wait!
Thanks for reading all season!
Oct. 12, 2009
This has been an amazing week so far. After a long drive, we finally arrived at our condo in Panama City Beach, Fla. on Saturday evening. We spent the night hanging out on the beach, watching a little football, and enjoying the warm weather.
When I woke up Sunday, I checked the weather forecast for the day and the high was supposed to be 88 degrees. I checked out Cedarville's forecast just for fun, and saw that it was in the mid 30's, with a high temperature only in the low 50's. We are all so thankful to be away from Ohio and golfing in the warm weather.
Sunday morning was an awesome experience for our team. As I mentioned our plans in a previous blog, we actually led a chapel service for the players of the tournament. Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication and not as many people as planned came, but it was still great to gather as a group of Christian athletes as a way to challenge each other.
It seems like a lot of people really liked the idea and it will hopefully become a tournament-wide yearly event. There is a lot of power in groups of Christians coming together.
Monday was the first day of the NCCAA National Tournament. We arrived at the course just after sunrise, with a whole day ahead of us. The plan was to play 36 holes and 18 to finish the tournament on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, the team struggled on the first 18 and we ended in a tie for 10th place. There were a lot of teams bunched up with scores around ours so shooting a good score the second round was crucial.
Soon after the second round began, it became evident that we were going to have a tough time fitting the final 18 holes in before sunset (if that tells you how long of a day it was.....sunrise to sunset on the course.....not to mention it was 92 degrees all day).
Everyone tried to play fast to fit it in before dark, but unfortunately not everyone finished. The guys on our team have one or two holes left in the second rounds so we will have to go out early Tuesday morning to finish it.
The team was playing much better in the this round before play was suspended. I know Matt, Ben, and Brigham all had good rounds going. Hopefully, we can finish strong and continue to move up the leader board!
It will be sad to leave the warm weather. Maybe we can bring some of the warm weather up north with us!
Oct. 6, 2009
Well, unfortunately the last couple weeks have been tough for the golf team. Last Monday and Tuesday in St. Louis, we struggled by posting scores well above what we expected to shoot. The high winds contributed to some of the high scoring, but overall the team still played very poorly.
We shot a 985 over the three rounds which put us in 17th place out of 20 teams. We all feel like we blew an opportunity to show the country what kind of team we can be. This tournament was host to a lot of really good teams from all over the country.
Thankfully, we had the chance to redeem ourselves at our own tournament on Monday. We played 27 holes just down the road at Beavercreek Golf Club for our Fall Yellow Jacket Invitational.
We all struggled again during the first 18, taking four scores in the 80's. I believe we were in third place, seven strokes back, after the first round. With just nine holes to try to mount a comeback, Matt K. led the charge shooting 37 on the tougher front side. Chris, Ben, and Trent also played well in the second round shooting scores of 38, 38, and 39.
The score of 152 (added to our first round 327) was good enough to take first place by three strokes. I know a lot of the guys felt they played poorly, but we can't complain about a win.
We really hope we can take this momentum from the win into our next tournament (NCCAA Nationals in Panama City Beach, Florida). We all can't wait to get out of cold Ohio and play some golf in the Florida sun for a few days.
This will be the third year in a row NCCAA Nationals will be held in PCB and it is always a blast. Great weather...great course...beach...warm weather...no classes. We can't ask for much more than that.
I know we all have some major practice to do this week to prepare for Nationals. Also, thanks to all the friends and family that came out to support us at the Invitational!
Sept. 28, 2009
Well, the golf team has had another pretty boring week as far as competition goes. In the midst of what seemed to be a really busy week of classes for everyone, we have all worked really hard on our games preparing for the Lindenwood tournament (Sept. 28-29).
The team left for St. Louis early Sunday morning to play a practice round in preparation for the tournament. The guys will be playing 36 holes Monday and 18 on Tuesday to finish off the 54-hole event.
As I mentioned in last week's blog, this is a very important tournament for our team to play well. There will be a lot of high quality teams from all over the country and it's a great opportunity to show the NAIA raters what kind of team we are this year.
It's always nice to get out of our region and play some teams from other areas of the country. It helps show us how we stack up against the rest of the NAIA.
The five guys that made the trip to Lindenwood are Matt K, Ben, Nick, Chris, and Trent. Unfortunately I had a rough couple weeks of qualifying and didn't get in the top five, but I know those guys will do an awesome job. I'm excited to hear from them to see how it goes!
Sorry I don't have anything else to report on this week...another low-key week on the course. Next week, I'll let you know how the Lindenwood tournament went and I'll keep everyone updated on our preparations for our Yellow Jacket Fall Invitational (at Beavercreek Golf Club...Monday, October 5).
Packers update.... Packers 36, St. Louis 17. Matt and I are happy about that after last week's loss!
Sept. 21, 2009
This week was a fairly slow and boring week on the course. We didn’t have any tournaments, so we spent most of the time just practicing.
Traveling to tournaments is a lot of fun, but it’s nice to have a week every once in a while to catch up on sleep, get ahead on school work, watch some football, and most importantly work on our ping pong skills in the dorm! My roommate Matt Krogstad and I are both big Packer fans…so unfortunately yesterday was a tough day for us losing to the Bengals…ouch.
We are all really excited for next week (Sept. 28-29) as we travel to St. Louis for Lindenwood University’s tournament. We will be leaving on Saturday and playing a practice round on Sunday before the tournament starts.
It’s another 54-hole tournament, so we will have to walk 36 holes the first day and finish with 18 on Tuesday. It’s a great tournament with a lot of really solid teams. If I remember right from last year, almost half the field was ranked in the NAIA Top 25 at the time.
Our top five for the week has yet to be completely decided, but I know that whoever makes it will do great. Everyone on the team is playing pretty solid right now.
For this week’s practice, I have a feeling we will all spend a lot of time working on our short game. A lot of us struggled in that area last tournament. If we want to do well at Lindenwood, our putting and chipping will have to be in top shape.
Sept. 14, 2009
I’m excited about the opportunity to give you an inside look to the golf team this year. I can speak for the team when I say that we’re all very excited for this season.
For the golf side of things, the team will really miss our number one player from last year, Trevor Bowman. We also lost two other seniors, Brendan Ojala and Brett Bigler. All three are all going to be missed on and off the course.
We don’t have any freshmen this year, but we do have two transfers that will play a huge role for us this year. Ben Mounts is a transfer from Cornerstone University and Brigham Michaud actually played for us last fall before taking a semester away from Cedarville.
The other six returners from last year all improved a lot this summer and are ready to kick off a new season. I think we can have an awesome year with the end goal of making it to and playing well at NAIA Nationals!
However, more importantly, this year we have a major focus on serving God with our platform God has given us as college golfers. We have some things we are going to do during competition to hopefully build relationships and open doors for God to speak to the hearts of our competitors.
We are also hoping to bring a couple high school golf teams out to our range to spend some time with us….building relationships, golf instruction, etc. (Unfortunately a couple dates we had planned with some teams have fallen through, but we hope it works out before the year is over).
One of our biggest things we are going to be involved in will take place down in Panama City Beach, Florida at the NCCAA National Tournament. Our team will actually be leading a church service for all the teams on the Sunday before the tournament. Some of the details of the service are still being worked out, but we know God will take care of everything. I will keep you updated on how everything goes. We are all really excited to see God work this golf season!
On another note….the team participated in our first tournament this past weekend (Ohio Dominican’s tournament in Columbus, Ohio). I don’t know if we were anxious to start the season or what happened, but we all struggled the first round and sat in 10th place out of 16 teams.
We battled our way back and ended up in a tie for fourth by the end of the tournament. We beat a lot of really solid teams and I hope that momentum can carry us into the next tournament in a couple weeks in St. Louis. Matt Krogstad led the team with a 54-hole score of one under par…he had a great tournament. It was good enough for third place in a really solid field.
Thanks to all the family and friends that came out to support us this weekend! We appreciate it.
Dan Atkeson, a senior from Galena, Ohio, is a Dean’s List student majoring in business management. He ranks among the top 10 golfers at CU in career scoring average.
