MUSKOGEE, Okla.—The Southern Nazarene University Men's Golf team put together a solid showing in their first tournament of the season as they placed T-8 as a team in the 17 team field at the NSU Men's Classic in Muskogee on Monday and Tuesday.
The Crimson Storm came into the new year with four returners in their starting lineup. They used that experience to improve on a 12th place showing in the same tournament one year ago. They got off to a great start in round one as they shot 1-under as a team and found themselves in fourth place. Things unraveled a bit in the second round with a 9-over team performance that dropped them to 9th place. A 5-over round three pushed SNU up one spot on the leaderboard to finish T-8.
The Storm were paced by senior, Landon Hendrix. He was phenomenal in the tournament as he posted two rounds under par. He finished the tournament two-over and claimed T-19th. He moved up 25 spots in the final round after notching five birdies and shooting 2-under.
Dawson Dunlap finished just one stroke behind Hendrix and took a T-29 placing. He was incredibly consistent all tournament, shooting 1-over all three rounds. He finished the tournament with 9 birdies.
Just behind Dunlap was Theodor Naus, who tied for 32nd and shot 4-over. He was even par through two rounds after shooting 1-under in round one and 1-over in round two.
Freshman Josh Van Niekerk and senior Mason Sebrant rounded out the Crimson Storm lineup. Van Niekerk finished at 8-over after shooting rounds of three-over on day one and a single two-over in round three. Sebrant was just four-over through two rounds but struggled a bit in round three to finish 14-over.
Fellow GAC foes, Henderson State and Harding ran away from the field. Henderson State ultimately bested Harding by one stroke as the team finished 18-under par. Southern Arkansas finished third at 1-under par. Northeastern State's Will Livermore and Arkansas Fort Smith's Jeremy Tandoy tied for the individual title at 9-under par for the tournament.
Southern Nazarene will be back in action next Monday and Tuesday at the beautiful Shangri-La Country Club in Monkey Island, Oklahoma for the MSSU Men's Fall Invitational.
