SEWARD, Neb. – Come April 29, the Concordia University Men’s Golf team hopes to put all the pieces together as it joins the rest of the conference at the 2024 GPAC Men’s Golf Championships. The two-day event will play out at Beatrice Country Club in Beatrice, Neb., and will feature a three-round format. The conference tournament shifts to Beatrice after having been held at The Bluffs Golf Course in Vermillion, S.D., in 2023. Prior to the GPAC Championships, Head Coach Brett Muller’s squad will go up against Doane in the Bulldog-Tiger Cup on Thursday (April 25).
2024 GPAC Men’s Golf Championship
April 29-30 | Beatrice Country Club (Beatrice, Neb.) | Tee times: 8 a.m. / 9 a.m.
--Live Scoring: https://www.golfgenius.com/ (GGID = 24MGPAC)
--GPAC Men’s Golf homepage
--Format: 36 holes on day one / 18 holes on day two
By the numbers
· At the 2023 conference championships, Concordia placed fifth in the GPAC with a three-round total of 296-307-296–899 in Vermillion. The first four in the Bulldog lineup each placed in the top 20 of the conference, led by Drew D’Ercole, who shot 74-76-72–222 and tied for 16th. The next three all tied for 20th: Justin Webert (75-79-72–226), Jacob Woodmancy (74-77-75–226) and Ivan Yabut (73-76-77–226). Meanwhile, Jake Hagerbaumer placed 44th (82-78-79–239). Yabut tied for fifth place in the conference in 2022, marking the highest individual placement for a Bulldog during the GPAC era.
· The 2023-24 Concordia Men’s Golf season has been one of ups and downs. The Bulldogs own a season scoring average of 306.4 after the 2022-23 squad broke a school record in that category with an average of 300.3. Drew D’Ercole and Justin Webert have been the consistent Nos. 1 and 2 players in the lineup. D’Ercole has averaged a score of 74.5 and has earned three top-five placements on the season. As for Webert, his season average sits at 76.0. He’s placed top five twice in his junior campaign. Following D’Ercole and Webert, the lineup has been inconsistent. Coach Muller has some difficult decisions to make for the 3 through 5 spots at the conference tournament. The next best Bulldogs in terms of season average are Jake Richmond (77.7), Hagerbaumer (78.2), Colin Aubuchon (78.5), Josh D’Ercole (78.9) and Gavin McWhorter (79.0). Six Bulldogs had a chance to play at Beatrice Country Club back on April 1 at the Southeast Community College Spring Invite. Webert placed in a tie for second place after carding a 73.
· There has been a break in the action since Concordia placed fifth at Nebraska Wesleyan’s Howl at the Hill held April 14-15. At that event, the Bulldog ‘A’ grouping shot 315-316–631. Concordia has turned in six team rounds below 300 this season – all coming during the fall portion of the schedule. The season best round of 291 occurred in round three of the Blue River Classic back in September. Persistent windy conditions have played a role in higher scores this spring for many northern and midwestern schools. The top round turned in by the Bulldogs this spring was a 301 in the first round of the Midwest Spring National Invite.
· As outlined above, D’Ercole, Webert and Hagerbaumer are the returners from last year’s GPAC tournament lineup. By year, the accomplished D’Ercole has posted conference place finishes of 39th as a freshman, 21st as a sophomore, 34th as a junior and 16th as a senior. Webert placed 22nd in 2022 before finishing 20th in 2023. As for Hagerbaumer, he placed 37th in 2022 and then 44th in 2023. Jacob Woodmancy competed at multiple GPAC championships and played in 11 rounds during the fall before graduating at the close of the fall 2023 semester. In other words, at least two Bulldogs will be playing at the GPAC Championships for the first time in 2024.
· Over the previous five seasons, the program has recorded GPAC place finishes of fifth in 2022-23, sixth in 2021-22, ninth in 2020-21, seventh in 2019-20 and ninth in 2018-19. Doane is the reigning GPAC champion after it shot a three-round total of 284-297-287–868 during last season’s conference tournament. The conference champion earns an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.
NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship
National qualifiers that come out of the conference championships will continue their seasons with the 2024 NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship set to be played in Dalton, Ga., May 21-24. For more information on the national tournament, click HERE.