NOBLESVILLE, Ind. – McKendree University men's golf got off to a rocky start in the opening four holes here Saturday in the final round of the 2022 NCAA Division II Midwest/Central Regional Tournament, before rebounding late in the round to post a seventh place finish out of 20 teams on a blustery and windy afternoon at the Purgatory Golf Club.
 
Entering Saturday's final round, the Bearcats were sitting in fourth place after shooting an 18-over par through the first two rounds, but the Bearcats, who were making just its second NCAA Regional appearance as a team in school history, opened play Saturday by having its four counters shot 12-over par on the first four holes and finished the front nine shooting 16-over par to fall down the leaderboard and out of the top six that would earn a spot in the National Championship finals. Following that rocky start, those same four counters would rebound to shoot a 1-under par for the final six holes to pull within two shots of making the cut for the national finals. The Bearcats shot even par over the final nine holes.
 
The Bearcats finished the three-day, 54-hole tournament with a 34-over par 898 to finish seventh overall and were just two shots behind both UMSL and Findlay, who tied for fifth after carding 32-over par scores of 896. In the final round, the Bearcats shot a 16-over par 304. In Sunday's final round, every team but four (Arkansas Tech, Indianapolis, Henderson State and Davenport) all shot 300 or better in the final round as the average team score in the final round was 303.8 and the average player score in the round was 76.75.
 
"A bittersweet end to a remarkable year. This team is resilient, and it showed again today, never giving up," McKendree head men's golf coach Mikal Guffey said following Saturday's final round. "It's a tough pill to swallow. However, these young men have so much to be thankful for and proud of this year."
 
After the completion of the final round, the top six teams and top two individuals not on one of the advancing teams qualified for the 2022 NCAA National Championships, which are scheduled for May 16-20 at TPC Michigan in Dearborn, Mich.
 
Central Missouri and Grand Valley finished tied atop the leaderboard, but UCM would capture the regional title in a playoff with the Lakers. Both UCM and Grand Valley State each shot 20-over par 884's. Arkansas Tech, who are the defending NCAA Division II National Champions, finished third with a 27-over par 891, while Indianapolis finished fourth with a 30-over par 894. All those teams, plus UMSL and Findlay all earned berths from the regional into the national championships.
 
Leading the way for the Bearcats at the tournament was junior Rasmus Nilsson (Stockholm, Sweden/Danderyds Gymnasium) as he has shot a 4-over par 220 for 36 holes to finish in a tie for 11th place. Nilsson shot a final round 76 after firing back-to-back rounds of 72 in the opening two rounds. Nilsson finished the tournament with nine birdies and 32 pars on his scorecard and was tied for eighth in par-4 scoring with a 4.75 average as he played the par-4 holes at 3-under par.
 
In the individual medalist race, Grand Valley's Charles Delong and Indianapolis' Oliver Mast each tied for first place as they both shot 1-under par 215's. With a tie, the two players would play a tiebreaker, and, in the tiebreaker, Delong would win as he parred the 16th hole, while Mast recorded a bogey. In addition to Delong and Mast, the two individuals that advanced to nationals were Ohio Dominican's Robert Holden and Concordia St. Paul's Taylor Zack as they won a three-way tiebreaker over Trevecca Nazarene's Devin Speight. Holden, Zack and Speight each shot even-par 216's.
 
For the tournament, five players out of the 107-player field finished the 54-hole event shooting par or better.
 
In addition to Nilsson, junior Phasin Vichitcharoenpaisarn (Bangkok, Thailand/The American School of Bangkok) shot a 54-hole total of 8-over par 224 to finish in a tie for 28th place. In the final round, Vichitcharoenpaisarn carded a final round 75, which was the best round of the day for the Bearcats. In the tournament, Vichitcharoenpaisarn, who shot a 73 and 76 in the first two rounds, recorded nine birdies, 30 pars and was tied for four among all 107 players in par-4 scoring as he played the course's par-4 holes at even-par (4.00).
 
The third and fourth finishers for the Bearcats each tied for 51st place overall as graduate student Will Postlethwaite (Carlisle, United Kingdom/William Howard School) and freshman Fabian Wennerlof (Onsala, Sweden/Katrinelundgymnasiet) both shot 12-over par scores of 228 for 54 holes. Postlethwaite shot a 77 in the final round, while Wennerlof's final round of 78 was dropped. For the tournament, Postlethwaite had rounds of 73 and 78, while Wennerlof had rounds of 74 and 76 respectively.
 
Postlethwaite finished the tournament with 31 pars and seven birdies and played the par-5 holes at 2-under par as he averaged 4.83 on those holes, while Wennerlof was tied for for the team lead in pars with 32 and had six birdies on his scorecard.
 
The final golfer for the Bearcats was freshman Thomas Tollefsen (Tongsberg, Norway/Wang Toppidrett Tonsberg) as he shot a 17-over par 233 to finish in a tie for 72nd place. After dropping his scored in the first two round, Tollefsen shot a 76 in the final round, which was tied for second-best on the day for the Bearcats. He played the final six holes are 1-under par as he recorded two birdies, three pars and a bogey on those holes. Tollefsen was tied for eighth in the tournament field in par-3 scoring as he played those holes at even-par as he averaged 3.00 and recorded 30 pars and four birdies on his scorecard.