INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The McKendree University men's golf team dropped a 3-2-0 decision here Sunday morning to 25th-ranked and top-seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis in one of the two semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Championships Match/Medal Play at Broadmoor Country Club.
McKendree qualified for the match/medal play portion of the 2022 GLVC Men's Golf Championships after firing a three-round, 54-hole score of 883 to finish fourth in the stroke play portion of the tournament that concluded on Saturday.
With their win, UMSL advances to the championship match where they will face No. 2 seeded Indianapolis, who earned a 3-0-2 win over No. 3 seeded Southern Indiana.
Sunday's match/medal play round came down to the final two holes between junior
Phasin Vichitcharoenpaisarn (Bangkok, Thailand/The American School of Bangkok) and UMSL's Reilly Ahearn. Vichitcharoenpaisarn was up three strokes with four holes to play, but Ahearn would win the 15th hole by one shot to cut the deficit to three strokes and then he won the 16th hole by two shots to square the match. On the 17th hole, Ahearn took a one-shot lead as he scored a par on the par-5 hole, while Vichitcharoenpaisarn scored a bogey and then on the 18th and final hole, Ahearn recorded another par, but Vichitcharoenpaisarn carded another bogey to give Ahearn a two-shot win and the third and final point the Tritons needed to earn the win.
Freshman
Thomas Tollefsen (Tongsberg, Norway/Wang Toppidrett Tonsberg) got one the two wins for the Bearcats as he won his match against Nick Hedberg by six shots.
The other win for the Bearcats came from graduate student
Will Postlethwaite (Carlisle, United Kingdom/William Howard School) as he scored a birdie on 18th hole to win by shot over Sylven, who was the individual medalist at the GLVC Championships after carding a 6-under par 210, as he scored a par on the final hole. The two golfers were tied after 17 holes.
UMSL's other two wins came by five shots and three shots as Ian McCrary defeated junior
Rasmus Nilsson (Stockholm, Sweden/Danderyds Gymnasium) by five shots (81-76), while Juan Antonio Padilla won by three shots over freshman
Fabian Wennerlof (Onsala, Sweden/Katrinelundgymnasiet), 76-73.
McKendree will now turn its focus to the NCAA Midwest/Central Regional as the Bearcats are currently ranked fourth in the region and are expected to receive a bid to the regional tournament, which will be held from May 5-7 at Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind. The NCAA will announce the tournament selections on Friday, April 22.
No. 1 UMSL 3 vs. No. 4 McKendree 2
Match 1 – Thomas Tollefsen (MCK) def. Nick Hedberg (UMSL), six strokes (75-81)
Match 2 – Ian McCrary (UMSL) def.
Rasmus Nilsson (MCK), five strokes (76-81)
Match 3 – Juan Antonio Padilla (UMSL) def.
Fabian Wennerlof (MCK), 3 strokes (73-76)
Match 4 – Reilly Ahearn (UMSL) def.
Phasin Vichitcharoenpaisarn (MCK), 2 strokes (77-79)
Match 5 – Will Postlethwaite (MCK) def. Joel Sylven (UMSL), one stroke (72-73)