DWU MEN'S GOLF

Tigers Back On Track?

The past two days, the 24th ranked DWU Tigers Men's Golf Team competed in Storm Lake, Iowa at the Lake Creek Country Club for the Buena Vista Spring Invitational. In a jam packed field including a few top D-3 NCAA schools and some solid JuCo's, the Tigers battled their way back to finish in 6th place out of 19 teams.

The first round of the tournament, Tigers' senior Big Canada got out to a pretty solid start making birdies on 4 of his first 7 holes coupled with two bogeys and one par. After settling in, he carded a 69 (3 under par) to be tied for the lead with Chris Reck from Wartburg College. Other teammates included Tyler Evenson (78), Nick Gates (79), Andrew Farrand (79), Chris Pritchard (80) and Adam Shiffermiller (78). The Tigers shot 305 to be in a tie for 6th with Iowa Lakes Community College, 15 shots back from first place.

The second round of the tournament, the Welshman, Chris Pritchard, got off to a solid and steady start and carded a 69 follow by teammates Tyler Evenson (74), Brett Abbotts (76), Nick Gates (78), Andrew Farrand (80) and Adam Shiffermiller (83). The Tigers carded their first round under 300 for the season for a 297 to finish the tournament shooting 602. This is nearly a 30 stroke improvement from our last tournament, so one could hazard a guess that getting outside and being able to practice with REAL golf balls has vastly improved our teams' scoring abilities.

What we have to look forward to...This next week we are going to be practicing and preparing for our last GPAC Qualifier where we will compete at Whispering Creek Golf Course in Sioux City, Iowa. To update, we have a 5 stroke lead over Nebraska Wesleyan (who plays D3 NCAA post season) and we are 27 shots ahead of Hastings College. After the performance we had this weekend, our attitudes and demeanor towards our golf games has only increased. We have a strong feeling of confidence knowing that we are only getting better as our rounds continue and that we are starting to play to our potential.

For individual results, the Tigers still have 4 players inside the top-10 and those who are in the hunt for GPAC Player of the Year as well as making the All-Conference team.
T-1 Brett Abbotts (+8)
5th Nick Gates (+10)
T-10 Tyler Evenson (+16)
T-10 Andrew Farrand (+16)

Wish us all luck :-)

 Also, this weekend, the Tigers will be hosting the 4th annual Holly Rotert Memorial golf tournament. This is a very large fundraiser for our team and something that we always look forward to hosting. It is very exciting for us to be able to bring in a lot of different people who are supportive of who we are and our mission on and off the golf course.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to contact either head coach Adam Anderson (adanders@dwu.edu) or team captain Brett Abbotts (brabbott@dwu.edu) and either of us will get back to you as soon as we can.

Thank you for your continued support of the DWU Tigers Men's Golf Team.

Written by: Brett Abbotts

Hanging On By A Thread

Have you ever teed up a ball on any hole and had sleet or hail showering down on you? We did. Have you ever played golf while it was raining and weather maybe coming close to the upper teens or lower 20s? We did. The third GPAC Qualifier played at Lochland Country Club in Hastings, Nebraska was one of the cruelest and toughest tournaments that any of us have ever played or faced in our college careers. We battled wind, rain, severe cold, hail, sleet and I think there might have been a little snow mixed in there. On the other hand, we still have a lead, not much of one, but we are still on top.

Let me take you back to the fall season...we were 19 strokes ahead of Nebraska Wesleyan and 36 strokes ahead of Morningside. After our 3rd qualifier, we are only 5 strokes ahead of NWU and 30 ahead of Morningside, but Hastings crept up the leaderboard with a score of 303 to win the tounament on their home course and also to sit 27 strokes behind us after three rounds.

Some of the scores we posted...
T-13 Brett Abbotts....78
T-17 Tyler Evenson...79
T-28 Nick Gates.......82
T-37 Andrew Farrand..83
T-37 Adam Shiffermiller...83
DWU Team Score .....322 (T-6th)

Unfortuantely, we did not put up our best numbers at this tournament and we really struggled with the last three or four holes. I believe we ended up take 5 penalty strokes on the last hole and not one of us even made a par on the par 5. That right there is the difference between having a 10 stroke lead and the 5 stroke lead that we have now.

So, with those scores, here is how our team sits in the GPAC Standings.
T-1 Brett Abbotts....+8
5th Nick Gates.........+10
T-10 Tyler Evenson....+16
T-10 Andrew Farrand..+16

Due to Pritch not playing in this tournament, he now forfeits his spot to be able to automatically be named All-Conference player should he have finished inside the top-10, but he is still able to make All-Conference by being selected. The same goes for Shiff since he did not compete in the first two events, he will not be able to make the All-Conference selection.

ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF THINGS!!!!

WE ARE STILL RATED IN THE TOP 25!!!!!!!

Currently, we are sitting in 24th place for rating. We only lost 10 votes in the ratings considering our not-so-decent scoring that we have been posting and we are ahead of some other schools that probably should be ahead of us, but we, of course, are definitely not going to start complaining anytime soon!

So with all of this...I leave writing one thing...we have played absolutely nowhere near our full potential...we are not down...we have not given up...we will be back. We have a pretty large chip on our shoulders and we are going to be playing with a very large purpose for the next couple of weeks. I wish the rest of the GPAC conference the best of luck.

Written by: Brett Abbotts

Any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail head coach Adam Anderson adanders@dwu.edu or Brett Abbotts brabbott@dwu.edu and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

DWU Men Start Out Shaky

After two rounds, the DWU Men's golf team is not off to the start that we had hoped for, but we are continuously getting better each and every tournament.

After a third place finish in Springfield, Missouri at the Evangel Spring Invitational, we are going to start looking for some imrpovements in our game as a team. Tyler Evenson highlighted the tournament with a tie for first place followed closely by senior Brett Abbotts who had a tie for 4th place respectively. Other Tigers competing in the tournament were Freshman Andrew Farrand, Junior and GPAC Conference tournament leader Nick Gates, sophomore Christopher Pritchard and sophomore transfer Adam Shiffermiller.

The Tigers then travelled to Fulton, Missouri where they competed in the loaded field at the William Woods Spring Invitational. The Tigers struggled in wet, soggy and windy conditions on their way to a 6th place finish, 21 strokes behind tournament winners Grand View. The Tigers top performer was senior Brett Abbotts who carded a 75 in his final round to find himself in a tie for 8th place. Adam Shiffermiller had a strong performance playing as an individual finishing in 11th place after carding rounds of 77 and 76. Also competing for the Tigers were sophomores Tyler Evenson and Chris Pritchard as well as junior Nick Gates and freshman Andrew Farrand.

After some contemplation and much though, Coach Anderson decided to have Adam Shiffermiller and Chris Pritchard have a playoff at McCook Country Club in Salem, South Dakota to decide who would be coming to the third GPAC Qualifier. After 18 holes, sophomore transfer Shiffermiller edged out Pritchard by a couple of strokes to earn his way on to the team for the first time in his young collegiate golf career. The decision came after a struggling performance from Pritchard and a solid and consistent performance from Shiffermiller. It just goes to show the depth that we have on our team this year and that our "spots" are never exactly safe.

Shortly after the qualifier while the Tigers were getting in some practice over in Salem, Coach Anderson was notified that we would not be travelling to Hastings, Nebraska on Monday, April 6th for our third GPAC qualifier. The tournament was post poned due to some pretty terrible conditions including gale force winds and the possibility of snow. The conditions for most teams just to make it to the event would prove to be quite difficult, so the tournament has been changed to Thursday, April 9th at the Lochland Country Club in Hastings, Nebraska.
Historically, the Tigers have played very well at this golf course, carding 18 hole scores of 292 in the fall season of 2008 and 291 in the fall season of 2007. The Tigers have the length and shot control to card some solid scores on this golf course and we are all looking forward to getting back there to extend or maintain our lead in the GPAC National Qualifying tournament.

Keep tuned in to the web site and check back for some more updates coming shortly after our round on Thursday!

For questions or comments, please contact Coach Anderson adanders@dwu.edu or Brett Abbotts brabbott@dwu.edu and either one would be happy to respond as soon as they possibly can.

Written by: Brett Abbotts
April 4th, 2009

The Spring Season is Soon Upon Us!

With another successful DWU Winter Golf Clinic wrapped up, the DWU Men's team is ready to get the Spring season started! After having a very dominant fall season, the DWU Men's team currently sits 19 strokes ahead of rival Nebraska Wesleyan and a towering 36 strokes ahead of Morningside College.

Just to recap a little bit on our fall GPAC/National Tournament Qualifying performance...

Team Scores (Through 2 rounds)
1. Dakota Wesleyan University    289 (Wild Oak) + 297 (Wilderness Ridge) = 586

2. Nebraska Wesleyan University     301 (Wild Oak) + 304 (Wilderness Ridge) = 605

3. Morningside College    309 (Wild Oak) + 313 (Wilderness Ridge) = 622

Dakota Wesleyan's Individual Scores (Through 2 rounds)
1. Nick Gates     70 + 73 = 143 (E)
2. Brett Abbotts 73 + 72 = 145 (+2)
T-4. Andrew Farrand 73 + 75 = 148 (+5)
T-8. Tyler Evenson 73 + 79 = 152 (+9)
T-8.Chris Pritchard 75 + 77 = 152 (+9)

For other scores, please visit the following web-site: http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/mgolf/2008/GPAC2.pdf

The men's golf team has been preparing indoors very hard and some members of the varsity team will be travelling to Missouri over the Spring Break to get their season started a little early.

You can check out our Spring Schedule by clicking on the following web site: http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/mgolf/schedule.htm

Also, DWU golf would like to extend a warm thank you to Ben Irlbeck, Chas Hurd, Merv Bouchie, Mark Horan and Bruce Hansen for their support and help with the Winter Clinic this year! It would be impossible for us to run such fundraisers and clinics without their support and dedication to our golf program! THANK YOU!

Writte by: Brett Abbotts

#21 in the NAIA Nation

MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University men’s and women’s golf teams were both extremely successful during the fall portion of their 2008-09 seasons, and as a result, both Tiger teams are ranked in the Top 25 NAIA Golf Fall Ratings, which were released on Dec. 3.

The DWU women’s team received 165 total points in the poll, and are ranked 18th in the 2008 NAIA Women’s Golf Fall Rating. The Tiger men’s squad received 178 points, and are the 21st-ranked team in the 2008 NAIA Men’s Golf Fall Rating.

“All the credit goes to our fine student-athletes,” DWU head men’s and women’s golf coach Adam Anderson said. “It is a very exciting time to be associated with our program. We are definitely improving every year.”

Dakota Wesleyan is one of only 11 NAIA schools to have both its men’s and women’s golf teams simultaneously rated in the Top 25 of the 2008 Golf Fall Ratings. The other 10 schools are California Baptist University, the University of British Columbia, William Woods University (Mo.), Berry College (Ga.), the University of Victoria (B.C.), Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho), Northwood University (Texas), Lindenwood University (Mo.) and Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.).

“It is an honor to receive this kind of respect across the country for both teams,” Anderson said. “Often, it is quite tough for a northern-climate school to receive these accolades in our sport, specifically, but we have worked very hard to get to this point.”

DWU’s men’s team was the only Great Plains Athletic Conference school to receive any votes in the 2008 NAIA Men’s Golf Fall Rating, and the Tiger women were joined in the Top 25 by the rival University of Sioux Falls, which is ranked 24th.

The NAIA Golf Ratings only come out once each fall, in early December. There will be four ratings released in the spring, and a final rating, which will be released just prior to the NAIA National Tournament selections. The spring ratings will be released on Feb. 24, March 24, April 7 and April 21, with the final rating slated to be released on May 7.

In eight tournaments this fall, DWU won four titles and added a second-place finish, two thirds and a sixth-place finish. The Tigers also have a 19-shot lead after the two fall Great Plains Athletic Conference Qualifier meets, so DWU has put itself in great position to win its second-straight conference title in the spring.

Individually, Tiger junior Nick Gates and senior Brett Abbotts are first and second in the race for GPAC Men’s Golfer-of-the-Year. This fall, Abbotts was named the GPAC Men’s Golfer-of-the-Week in back-to-back weeks, and Gates also shared the honor once.

The Tigers will try to protect their conference leads and win dual GPAC titles in the two spring GPAC qualifiers. The two men’s meets will be held on Monday, April 6, in Hastings, Neb., and on Tuesday, April 28, in Sioux City, Iowa. The women’s GPAC meets will be held Monday, April 13, in Fremont, Neb., and Friday, April 24, in Orange City, Iowa. The rest of the Tigers’ spring schedules should be finalized soon.

2008 NAIA Men’s Golf Fall Rating
1. University of British Columbia (10). 2. Oklahoma City University (6). 3. Oklahoma Christian University. 4. Wayland Baptist University. 5. University of South Carolina-Beaufort (1). 6. Malone University (Ohio). 7. Oklahoma Baptist University. 8. University of Victoria (B.C.). 9. Berry College (Ga.). 10. Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.). 11. Lee University (Tenn.). 12. Texas Wesleyan University. T13. Lindenwood University (Mo.). T13. Southeastern University (Fla.). 15. Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.). 16. Weber International University (Fla.). 17. Missouri Valley College. 18. Northwood University (Texas). 19. Johnson & Wales University (Fla.). 20. Southern Nazarene University (Okla.). 21. DAKOTA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (S.D.). 22. Saint Ambrose University (Iowa). 23. William Woods University (Mo.). 24. Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho). 25. California Baptist University.

Excerpts written by: Matt Higgins, DWU Sports Information Director

Breaking Records Off the Course Too!!

Saturday, October 25, 2008 - 12:45am. Adam Shiffermiller, Adam Golesh, Lex Moore, Billy Jarrett, Marty Orme and I arrive at Marlin's Restaurant, otherwise known as I-90. We all sit down and ponder the question, "What is fairly good to eat at this hour?" -- If you are wondering why we were there so late, we were at our assistant coach's house fairly late playing Guitar Hero and Tiger Woods 2009 after our weekly movie night now that the season has ended -- Mr. Adam Shiffermiller decides that he is going to order what is known as the "Marlin's Challenge." This 3-pound MONSTER for a hamburger comes complete with about a half pound of fries and a small dish of pork fried beans. Now, here is what we were all thinking almost at the exact same time, "Yeah right Shiff, yeah right!!" He orders it anyway and at 1:09am, out comes this half-of-a-cow and a large plate of Fries for Mr. Shiffermiller. After about 25 minutes, Shiff has down nearly the entire burger, some fries, and all of the beans are gone. He takes about a 5 minute break to cool off, and let everything settle, bad idea?! He staggers through a few more fries and a couple bites of the now ONE pound burger and thinks about quitting. With the support of his teammates, Shiff dives back into the burger and continues to inch through it before finishing his last bite with three minutes to spare.

His name, along with five others, goes up on the Marlin's Wall of Fame and adds another record the DWU Men's Golf Team...Only player to finish the Marlin's Challenge.

Well done Shiff. Well done.

Written by: Brett Abbotts
Saturday, October 28, 2008

Fall Season Coming to a Close....

It has been a while since I have had the chance to write about the great success that our team has been having lately but I think that I might be able to try and catch everyone up...

After two rounds of the GPAC Conference Tournament/National Tournament Qualifier, we have a commanding lead over Nebraska Wesleyan University, our closest competitors who are 19 strokes behind after two rounds. The next closest is Morningside who are 36 strokes behind and I am unsure about the exact strokes, but I believe that Hastings is next, 42 strokes behind and then USF is 46 strokes behind. We have a fairly large cushion underneath us for the Spring Season, but we always play hard and solid in the Spring, so I am hoping we can not only maintain our lead, but build on that to try and repeat as Conference Champions and punch our ticket to the national tournament.

Some details...Nick Gates is leading the GPAC with a two round total of 143 (E) for the two days of competition. He fired a solid opening 70 (-2) at Wild Oak Golf Club and followed that up with a 73 (+2) at Wilderness Ridge in Lincoln, Nebraska. Closely behind him is fellow teammate, Abbotts, who won the second qualifier with a score of 72 (+1) to put him two strokes behind Gates after two rounds. Also looking inside the top-10 is the other three Tigers in the line up. Freshman, Andrew Farrand fired a solid 75 to follow up his 73 from Wild Oak to sit in a tie for 4th place while sophomores Tyler Evenson and Chris Pritchard each sit in a tie for 8th, respectively. Evenson (79) and Pritchard (77) helped the Tigers to a 297 at Wilderness Ridge and were a part of the ONLY team to have all 5 scores in the 70s. No other team accomplished this feat and no other team has yet to do that at either qualifier.

Recently, the team traveled to St. Louis for the Lindenwood Fall Invitational. The Tigers were a part of a 24 team field that included some extremely good teams: Shorter College, Davenport University, Missouri Valley, St. Ambrose, Lindenwood, Oklahoma Baptist, William Woods, Lubbock Christian, and Southern Nazarene. The Tigers were able to pull off another record-breaking performance firing a three round total of (306-300-290) 896 (+32) for the tournament to come in a three way tie for 3rd with Missouri Valley and Oklahoma Baptist. The Tigers were led by senior, Brett Abbotts who fired 72-74-68 (214) to finish in a tie for 2nd place at 2-under par. Abbotts' performance broke the DWU 54-hole scoring record that was previously held by Tommy Hoek at 227 (+14 on a par 71 golf course).  Following closely behind was sophomore Chris Pritchard who fired 75-71-76 (222) to finish 14th at 6-over par. The Tigers were rounded out by freshman Billy Jarrett (81-78-84, 233), junior Nick Gates (78-77-79, 234) and sophomore, Tyler Evenson (86-82-72, 240). The 290 the Tigers shot on the third day of play was the 2nd low round of the day and catapaulted us from 11th place to a tie for 3rd, the biggest jump in the entire field. The only other teams to beat the Tigers for the 54-hole event were Shorter College (2nd, 6 strokes ahead of Tigers) and Davenport University (1st, 12 strokes ahead of Tigers).

The Tigers most recent tournament comes from their home tournament, another record setting tournament for the Tigers. Junior, and Mitchell-native Nick Gates tied the DWU 18-hole scoring record with an opening round with a 7-under par 65 that led to the Tigers FINALLY breaking their own 18-hole scoring record of 289. The new record, with help from sophomore Tyler Evenson (72), senior Brett Abbotts (72) and sophomore Chris Pritchard (78) the new 18-hole scoring record for the Tigers is in red figures at 287 (-1). The Tigers also went on to win their home tournament, in record setting fashion, setting our new 36-hole scoring record of 590 (+14). Our closest competitors were Morningside and Minot State who each scored 606, respectively. Gates finished 2nd alone with a second round 80, senior Brett Abbotts finished in a tie for 5th place while the other Tigers (Jarrett, Pritchard, and Evenson) finished inside the top 15 for the tournament.

The Tigers will see action this week, Thursday and Friday, in Hastings, Nebraska for the last tournament of the Fall Season.

Written by:

Brett Abbotts

DWU Men's Golf Team

Back on top...for now...

After the first day of the GPAC Qualifier at our home course of Wild Oak in Mitchell, SD we are currently looking at a 12 stroke lead over Nebraska Wesleyan and a 13 stroke lead over Hastings College.

Our team dominated the entire day and we finally got the lucky break that we were looking for with the weather. While we were out playing our first 9, which was the back 9 at Wild Oak, we enjoyed perfectly calm conditions with very little wind and no rain at all. When we made our turn to the back 9, Wild Oak's long and challenging front 9, we faced a small breeze and a bit of rain. Just as we were finishing up, the wind started to pick up and the rain was coming down even heavier making the task for other teams to try and catch up that much harder.

Now, for some individual results...

Nick Gates currently leads our team with a fine round of 2 under par, 70. He is currently sharing that lead with Nebraska Wesleyan's E.J. Hamilton. Closesly behind him are three other teammates of Gates'...Abbotts, Evenson, and Farrand who all fired 1 over par 73's on route to our team score of 289. Pritch rounded out our top 5 with a 3 over par 75.

Overall, it was a great day for all of us and even though Pritch fired a 75, it was still a good score on Wild Oak that day because there were very few scores that would even match that 75 on that day! It wasn't easy, we just made it seem like it! :-)

To view the aritcle written by our SID, please click on the following link... http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/mgolf/index.htm

The Tigers will see action again next Thursday at the Praire Green Golf Course in Sioux Falls, SD. Our next GPAC Qualifier is at the Wilderness Ridge Golf Club and will be hosted by Doane College. CHeck back for more information on your DWU Men's golf team.

The team is set and the first tournament is approaching...

Just two more sleeps before the DWU Tigers take to the course with their first tournament coming at the Red Raider Invitational at the Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City, Iowa. The Tigers will be looking for repdemption after their last finish at the Red Raider Invite where they finished 2nd to Dordt with a score of 302. It was also the site where Big Canada achieved his first college tournament victory.

On the team this year are some of the familiar faces: Pritchy, Gater, Evie, Big Canada and we are welcomin in freshman Andrew Farrand to join the squad for the first couple of meets.

Look back on the blog after Tuesday and I will have more information posted for you to read about our team and our first tournament expedition. We have a lot of work to do to try and catch the girls after having a 2nd and 3rd place finish in their first two tournaments.

Wish us luck!

Please send any comments/questions to brabbott@dwu.edu or adanders@dwu.edu and ask any question you may have!

A New Year is Upon Us

Well folks, it's back to the daily grind, so to speak, with the Dakota Wesleyan freshman arriving and the upper classmen making their return, we are getting set to make a run at the National Championship.

Thanks to A LOT of work from Coach Adam Anderson, there will no longer be a conference and regional tournament. Now, that is not to say that we are just going to NOT play golf whatsoever, there is an entirely different breakdown of how everything is going to work. We are now having what has been named "National Qualifiers". At each qualifying site, in the fall the first tournament will be in the northern region and played at DWU's home course, Wild Oak, and the second tournament will be held in the southern region and played at a course that DWU struggled with, Wilderness Ridge. So, what happens now, you might ask? This is where the saying, "every stroke counts" really comes into play. At the end of the four National Qualifiers, teams' totals will be added up and the team with the lowest stroke average moves on to the National tournament. Now, I am still a LITTLE confused as to how it works because I am not 100% sure if the teams from the other conference will be joining us for these other tournaments. I am sure that they will, but I guess we'll have to find out. Coach Anderson wanted to work it this way for a number of different reasons. One being that we will NOT be missing four days of classes which is a HUGE bonus especially when the Conference and Regional tournament were so late in the year and close to finals and two because it allows us to measure the quality of play over a length of time, not just one 2-day tournament and best of luck to ya' sort of thing. So, look for more information to come on that, because it is quite an interesting format.

So, what else is there to write about? How about some of the incoming freshman an returning players.

We have already welcomed Billy Jarrett from England over to the team as he arrived Tuesday afternoon and was extremely jet lagged but he looks to be recovering nicely. We also have Derek DeVries, Lex Moore, Martyn Orme (from Ireland who is playing as a walk-on), Adam Shiffermiller who is a transfer from UNL, Adam Maloney, and Andrew Farrand.

The team also welcomes back Tyler "Evie" Evenson, Nick "Gater" Gates, Adam Golesh, Christopher "Pritchy" Pritchard and Kellen Weidner as well as new team captain, Brett "Big Canada" Abbotts who will have some pretty big shoes (even though they're only a size 8) to fill with the absence of former team captain Tommy Hoek.

Also, the men's team would like to extend a warm welcome to Assistant Coach Jenny Schneider who will be replacing Benjamin Irlbeck for the coaching staff. She brings a plethora of knowledge and wealth of experience to the table as she has tried qualifying for the LPGA tour several times. We all look forward at getting the chance to work and talk with Coach Schneider and be able to use her experience and knowledge on the golf course to better ourselves and our team.

I will start posting more on the blog as far as team qualifiers and the first few tournaments that we have coming up! So, keep reading and get ready for the next big thing with the DWU Men's golf team.