OMAHA, Neb. – For the fourth time in her collegiate career, standout Kendra Placke has claimed a tournament championship. Placke paced a Concordia University Women’s Golf team that finished third at Tuesday (Sept. 21)’s Matthew Goette Fall Classic hosted by College of Saint Mary. The event was staged at Tiburon Golf Course in Omaha, Neb., and featured eight teams and 53 golfers.
Head Coach Brett Muller’s program entered the annual tournament as the reigning Goette Classic champion. This time around, the Bulldogs finished five strokes off the lead. Their team total of 371 placed them behind Northwestern (366) and Mount Marty (370).
“They had the course stretched out a little bit longer than normal today and the greens were probably about as fast as the girls have played in their careers,” Muller said. “When you only lose by five shots, I think everyone can look at a couple shots in their round that could have gone another way. Across the board, the scores were definitely higher for all teams. That speaks to how tough the course was, but I thought we really competed.”
While taking on the challenging course, Placke shot a 12-over-par 84 that put her in a tie with Mount Marty’s Kelsey Heath atop the individual leaderboard. The Seward High School alum Placke was rewarded with the tournament victory via a scorecard playoff. A 38 on the front nine carried her to the win. Placke placed second at last year’s event at Tiburon with a score of 83.
The following is a rundown of Placke’s four career collegiate tournament titles:
· 2019 Nebraska Wesleyan Fall Classic – 79 (+8)
· 2020 Lila Frommelt Fall Classic – 72-77–149 (+7)
· 2020 Buena Vista Fall Invite – 77 (+5)
· 2021 Matthew Goette Fall Classic – 84 (+12)
As the team’s No. 2 performer on Tuesday, Lauren Havlat (Lincoln, Neb.) earned a tournament medal for placing sixth with a score of 91 (+19). It marked the second year in a row Havlat has placed in the top 10 at the Goette Classic (ninth in 2020).
Concordia was represented by five others at the tournament: Mya Nurse (98; T-19th), Logan Eschliman (98; T-19th), Emily Jensen (102; T-27th), Ashley Gerczynski (103; T-30th) and Sarah Wilson (109; T-37th). Nurse had been coming off a career low round of 77 on day two of the Lila Frommelt Fall Classic.
Before focusing on the GPAC Championships (Oct. 4-5), the Bulldogs will be in action this Saturday and Sunday at the Nebraska Wesleyan Fall Invite. The tournament will be staged at Mahoney Golf Course in Lincoln, Neb.