Johnson wins again
It’s amazing what one win can do for a golfer.
A week after winning his collegiate tournament, Bison men’s golfer Eric Johnson continued his impressive run by winning the Erv Kaiser Invitaitonal on Sunday.
“ Last week he won, and that is such a big barrier to get over and it really gave him a sense of confidence,” NDSU head golf coach Billy Iverson said. “He is playing so well right now; he hits the ball far and straight.”
Coming into this season Eric Johnson was 0-for-27. During his first three years at NDSU, he played in 27 tournaments and won exactly zero.
Now a senior, Johnson has put together back-to-back wins to start the year.
A week ago, the team traveled to Annapolis, Md., and competed against several strong Division I opponents in the Navy Fall Invitational.
Johnson took home his first collegiate victory in dramatic fashion with a one-hole playoff over Blake Ferguson of Loyola College.
Over the weekend at the Erv Kaiser Invitational, he used consistency to propel him to victory.
Johnson shot scores of 73, 72 and 73 for a three-day total of 218, three shots ahead of Concordia-Moorhead’s Drew Dvorak.
Before these victories, Johnson had racked up four runner-up finishes, something he was growing very tired of.
“ I have had a few second place finishes and I was actually thinking down the last hole of the tournament in Annapolis how I really hate second place,” Johnson said. “So it was nice to finally pull one out, and stop worrying about getting one before I graduate.”
In the team standings of the tournament, NDSU finished in second place behind the University of Manitoba. NDSU had won the Erv Kaiser Invitational the previous two years.
The Bison dug themselves into a hole after shooting 315 day one, leaving them 19 strokes out of the lead and in fourth place.
NDSU came back on Saturday to shoot a day-low 285 to vault them all the way to second place.
Facing tough weather conditions on Sunday, the Bison were unable to pull ahead of Manitoba and finished 11 strokes behind.
Manitoba primarily travels to this area to compete, as most schools in Canada don’t have golf teams.
Although they usually play against Division II schools in North Dakota and Minnesota, Iverson thinks Manitoba would definitely be a competitive Division I team.
“ It is going really well,” Manitoba golfer Jeremie Bremault said of competing in the U.S. “It is a lot of fun to play here, and it is really good competition.”