The St. Thomas Aquinas Men’s golf team headed back down to North Carolina to face off with some of the southern region schools in the UNC Pembroke Campbell Oil Classic at River Landing Golf Club in Wallace, NC. Although the team did not have it’s best outing of the season, they managed to put together a 3-round team score of 915 (308-302-305), good for a 7th place finish.
The first day of 36 holes started off in the mid-40’s with moderate wind which led to difficult conditions on the challenging course. The Spartans were paced by Kai Rastetter who carded a round of 75. Right behind Rastetter were senior Tommy Linehan and junior Niklas Koerner who managed to post rounds of 77. Sophomore Chris Gentle rounded out the team’s first round after shooting 79 while freshman Kevin Gately shot 80.
During the second 18, the weather warmed up and Spartans played
a much more solid round of golf. Gately, Rastetter and Koerner all
carded rounds of 75. Tommy Linehan was able to shoot another round
of 77 and Chris Gentle posted another round of 79 as well. After
the first 36, the Spartans had a team total of 610 behind the
tournament leader Newberry College.
On the final day of play freshman Kevin Gately fired the low team round of the tournament after carding a 1-under par 71. Gately put together a 54 hole score of 226 (80-75-71) earning him a tie for 16th place among the 83 man field. Niklas Koerner put together a round of 77 in the final round while Kai Rastetter carded a round of 78. Rastetter’s 3 round score of 228 (75-75-78) and Koerner’s 229 (77-75-77) were good for a T21 and T25 respectively. Chris Gentle and Tommy Linehan rounded out the team scoring with scores of 79 and 82 respectively. Linehan finished the event with a 236 total after rounds of 77-77-82 while Gentle finished at 237 after shooting 3 consecutive rounds of 79. The Spartans 54 team score of 915 was good for 7th place just 1 shot back of Barton College and 2 shots back of the host UNC Pembroke.
The team is back in action this weekend when they host the 13th annual St. Thomas Aquinas Spring Invitational at Rum Pointe GC in Berlin, MD.