Reivers Win the Southwestern Premier; Welsh and Wahman Tied for 1st Individually
Panora, IA – Iowa Western Men's Golf closed out the regular season on a high note, capturing the Southwestern Premier Team Championship. The event was held April 22nd, and 23rd at Lake Panorama National Golf Course in Panora, IA.
The Reivers faced intense competition as several top ranked teams were in the field, as well as dealt with tough windy conditions on a demanding layout. Iowa Western opened day 1 with a solid start keeping pace with the leaders and found themselves in 3rd place, 3-strokes back from the lead. William Welsh led the way for the Reivers with a 1-over par 73, Sam Wahman and Emmanuel Jensen would post 4-over par 76, Sam Wells and Lloyd Hughes would each card 5-over par 77's.
"I felt like the guys really battled hard on day 1. It was windy, and on days like that you are going to have great stretches of golf however you are going to have unfortunate breaks that you need to be resilient and bounce back from," said Iowa Western's Director of Player Development Ryan Norman, PGA. "This tournament is going to come down to making birdies on the holes you can, and then who plays the best during the toughest stretches of golf on this layout. Making bogey our worst score during those stretches but valuing pars."
Iowa Western did just that on day 2. The Reivers opened on fire, finding themselves 8-under par through the first 5 holes, and jumping to the top of the leaderboard. They would hang on to the lead the rest of the day and play steady golf through those tough stretches. "We managed our game well today. If we made bogey, we would bounce back with a birdie," Norman said. Iowa Western was led by Sam Wahman who carded a 1-under par 71, Sam Wells would card 1-over par 73, William Welsh would follow up a solid round 1 with another steady round at 2-over par 74 and Emmanuel Jensen would round out the day 2 team scoring with a 4-over par 76. It was good enough for an 8-shot victory over NJCAA D2 #4 nationally ranked Kirkwood CC.
Welsh and Wahman would tie for 1st place individually. Welsh would end up claiming top honors by winning a 3-way sudden death playoff, with birdie on the 2nd playoff hole. Other Reivers in action, competing as individuals were freshman Carter Madison who would go 75-79 finishing t26 in the 72-player field. Sophomore Ethan Main would post 76-77 to finish t20.
That wraps up the regular season for the Iowa Western Men's Golf team, they will now set their sights on the postseason. The Reivers will head to Springfield, MO on Sunday to begin preparations for the District Championship, held at Rivercut Golf Course on Monday, April 27th and Tuesday, April 28th.