The Denver men’s and women’s golf teams traveled to California and Louisiana, respectively, this past week to participate in three-round tournaments. The men’s team played in The Goodwin, a tournament at the Stanford University Golf Course on March 24-26, which featured 25 teams. Women’s golf participated in the LSU Tiger Classic at the University Club on March 20-22, along with 16 other teams.
Finishing in 25th place, DU men’s golf was led by the performance of sophomore Chris Korte (Littleton, Colorado). Korte shot a 68 on Friday, March 25 and a 71 on Saturday, March 26. Par for the course was 70.
Two other sophomores also participated in the event, as Jake Kelley (Littleton, Colorado) and Michael Boylan (Patterson, New York) contributed to DU’s effort. Both performed well on the last day of the tournament, Saturday, March 26, as they each carded scores of 71.
Next up for the team is the two-day long Iowa Intercollegiate, which will take place in Iowa City, Iowa on April 16-17.
For the women’s team, five golfers were featured. The list included junior Mariell Bruun (Larvik, Norway), sophomore Jessica Dreesbeimdieke (Windhoek, Namibia), freshman Sophie Newlove (Nottingham, England), junior Jessica Carty (Hollywood, Northern Ireland) and freshman Katharina Baratta (Klosterneuberg, Austria).
Collectively, the team finished in 15th place in the 17-team field. The Pioneers finished with a score of 313 on Tuesday add exact date, the last day of the tournament. The course was a total of 6,247 yards and had a par of 72.
Bruun led the team in total score for the three rounds, shooting 230. Head coach Lindsay Kuhle was impressed by the performance.
“Mariell [Bruun] had a great week and really stepped up for us. She worked hard the last couple of weeks on her game to feel confident and it showed,” said Kuhle.
Dreesbeimdieke and Bruun finished the tournament strong by shooting scores of 76, only four above par. It marked a 16-stroke improvement from the middle day of the tourney by Dreesbeimdieke.
“I am proud of Jess D’s [Dreesbeimdieke] comeback today and solid 76, which tied for the low round for us today. It says a lot about who she is as a person and her fight to comeback after the second round and compete to her ability,” said Kuhle.
Both Dreesbeimdieke and Carty potted three birdies on the final day of the tournament. Carty would also finish tied for 61st overall.
“This is a difficult and challenging course. I am confident our results will motivate our players to work on their games and weaknesses to improve for the three remaining events,” said Kuhle. “We are getting closer to the results we want, but need all five players in the lineup to step up each day of the event.”
The next tournament the team will compete in is the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, which will be played April 1-3 in Athens, Georgia.
