MANHATTAN, Kan. – The North Dakota State men's golf team continued to climb at the K-State Wildcat Invitational, moving two spots up the leaderboard on Tuesday at Colbert Hills to finish the first tournament of the year in fifth.
The Bison were led on day two by freshman
Ian Simonich, who carded his first collegiate round under par with a score of -2 (70) in the third and final round. Simonich had just one negative on his scorecard with a double bogey on his fourth hole of the afternoon. However, Simonich settled in to record six straight pars before scoring birdies on four of his final eight holes.
Simonich was the second biggest mover up the leaderboard in the 75-golfer field on Tuesday, climbing 22 spots to finish in a tie for 21st overall. He finished the tournament 12th in par-3 scoring and 15th in par-4 scoring. He also finished in the top 20 for the tournament with 10 birdies.
As a team, the Bison carded the third-best round of the day and the sixth-best round in the 13-team tournament field with a 291 in the final round. NDSU jumped Oral Roberts and Drake to climb into fifth with a three-day total of 896 (+32). Overall, the Bison had four golfers finish in the top third of the field.
Brock Winter had the second-best round of the day for the Bison as he finished at even par with a 72, his best round of the tournament. Winter had three birdies on the day, including one on his final hole to push him into the top 20 in a tie for 18th overall.
Winter finished third in par-3 scoring for the tournament (E) and was also eighth in the tournament field with 33 pars. He also had nine birdies over 54 holes.
The top finisher for NDSU was
Jack Johnson, who played as an individual in the tournament. Johnson carded a 76 on the final day to finish at 22 (+6). Johnson finished in a tie for 12th overall and was the top individual in the field.
The Bison will take a week off before returning to action on September 27-28 with the Drake University hosted Zach Johnson Invitational. The two-day event will be held at the Glen Oaks Country Club in Des Moines, Iowa.
