The University of La Verne’s undefeated golf team is charged off to the NCAA championships in Indiana this week.
The championships are determined by a four-day tournament that began on Tuesday and ends today.
The players were given a chance to spend the weekend before practicing for the tournament.
Players will be competing at the Hawthorns Country Club, and Prairie View Country Club.
“Were a very good golf team,” said head coach Rex Huigens. “This is the best team La Verne has ever had; the best conference team La Verne has ever had.”
This is always an exciting event for the La Verne golf team even though they have managed to be eligible six of the last seven years.
As of Wednesday, the La Verne golf team is trailing the No. 1 team leader position by 9 strokes.
Later on, ULV dropped to the No. 4 position, 16 strokes behind the leader, St. John’s (Minn.).
Through round one, junior Chris Davis game played a strong game early on Wednesday as he tied for second on the individual leader scoreboard.
In the second round, Davis also continued to lead his team and play well as he birdied the 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th holes.
Currently at the end of third round, the Leopards (+53) are in second place in the overall team standings.
They trail first place St. John’s (+37) by 16 strokes entering the final round of play today.
Among the standout performers for the Leopards in the third round has once again been Davis who shot a 77, while freshman Mitchell Fedorka shot a 75.
However sophomore Rizal Amin enjoyed the best round for ULV as he jumped to 14th place in the individual standings with his best round of the tournament so far, shooting a 73 in round three.
Senior Nathan Logan is currently in 35th place as he continues to improve on the course through the duration of the tournament.
In the round, Logan also shot his best frame with a score of 76.
So far SCIAC player of the year, Jordan Talah has had a difficult time shooting low scores.
Yet the junior did shoot a 77 in round three, which marks his best round in the tournament as of yet.
Talah hopes to rebound and help the Leopards gain some ground on the Johnnies.
Going in to the final round, it will not be strategy and play alone that will lead the La Verne team to victory.
The camaraderie that the team shares will help them be team leaders into the rest of the championship.
“There‘s a lot of cool people on the team,” said Talah. “We’re close-knit; we’re all friends outside the team.”
Everybody is welcomed on the team; we love to hang out together,” Davis said. “We like to hang out together; it is the best social atmospheres out there.”
Davis is expecting a good turnout from the NCAA Tournament.
He hopes that with the team doing well that it can get the golf team more notoriety on campus.
“I would like to make it knows that we have a golf team by winning nationals” Davis said. “To bring home an NCAA championship would get us known.”
The tournament will last through today, and scores will be updated on a live scoreboard on www.golfstat.com.
Dustin Smith can be reached at dsmith9@ulv.edu.
