Pride golf battles through elements to open spring season

GALENA, Ill. - On the first of April, the Clarke University golf programs opened up their 2024 spring slate in the spring event that they host, the Clarke Spring Invite as the tournament was only able to complete Monday's opening round before weather cancelled out Tuesday's second and final round.

Monday had chilly and breezy conditions that even brought about some rain showers as the eight women and 10 men that competed for the Pride as well as the entire 51-person men's field and 52-person women's field getting through 18 holes in less than ideal conditions.

The top finisher overall for CU golf on Monday was Jacob Luett on the men's side as he would finish with a 77 (+5) to tie for third individually, officially finishing in fourth place due to tiebreakers. 

Luett led a Pride men's A lineup that included Logan Winn shooting an 81, Alijah Dopson scoring at 86, then both Jared Martinson and Jesse Frye finishing at 88 for a final team score of 332 to finish in sixth place as a team.

Clarke's second unit of Anthony Eddy, Francis Resurreccion, Mitchel Coffey, Hayden Hoekstra, and Drake Hammel scored a 345 as a team with the low score from this squad coming from Eddy and Hammel both shooting 84 while Resurreccion scored 88, Coffey finished at 89, and Hoekstra had a 91.

On the women's side, they were highlighted by the return to the course for Gabby Weyland who missed significant time due to injury as her return would finish at 105 to lead the Pride women.

Jessi Wagner, Halle Boldt, and Maddie Patten rounded out the team score for their eighth place finish as the remainder of the CU women that competed were Allea Stone, Camdyn Penick, Katherine Whitson, and Maya England.

Clarke golf will continue on with their spring both on Apr. 11 when they compete head-to-head with Loras College in a match play event to be hosted at Lacoma Golf Club in East Dubuque, Ill.