SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – Sophomore Tyler Ehresman’s career low round on Friday highlighted the opening conference qualifier of the 2015-16 season for Concordia University men’s golf. As a team, the Bulldogs concluded GPAC Qualifier No. 1 with a score of 312, tying for eighth among the conference’s 11 squads. The total is a shade under last year’s team average of 313.75 during conference action.
Ehresman sits in a tie for ninth with his two-over-par 73 that unfolded at The Ridge Golf Club in Sioux Center, Iowa. Sophomore Russell Otten (76, T-22nd) and freshman Nolan Zikas (79, T-37th) joined Ehresman with scores in the 70s for head coach Brett Muller’s Bulldogs.
“We’re a little disappointed with the team score,” Muller said. “We could have done a lot better. We got off to a rough start. We did a decent job coming back, but we were just too far back.”
Ehresman was remarkably steady in collecting 16 pars and two bogeys. On the other hand, 2014-15 all-conference performer Reid Wiebe shot a season high 84, a score that was inflated by a 10 on an early hole.
“We need more guys at 75 or less,” Muller said. “We know we’re capable of that. We’re going to go back and get to work in practice and try to simulate that tournament feel.”
A native of Omaha, Ehresman’s previous career low was a 74 on day one of the Siouxland Invitational on Sept. 10. He dropped his season average to 77.6 with Friday’s round.
A season ago Concordia turned in conference scores of 300, 312, 337 and 306 and placed sixth in the GPAC. Both Shawn Rodehorst, now the team’s graduate assistant coach, and Wiebe garnered all-conference recognition.
The Bulldogs will go nine days without a tournament until returning to action at the Doane Invite held at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in Lincoln on Sept. 28. Concordia will be back at the same course on Oct. 1 for GPAC Qualifier No. 2.