NDSU golfer wins Independent title
For the second time in as many days, Eric Johnson bogeyed his first hole.
For the second-consecutive day, the senior men’s golfer for NDSU responded with a near-flawless round.
After shooting a 72 in the opening round, Johnson shot two straight 67’s to shoot a tournament total of 206 and win the Division I Independent golf tournament in Windsor, Colo. last weekend.
“He was just focused,” said NDSU golf coach Billy Iverson in a phone interview. “He just took one shot at a time and didn’t let anything distract him.”
As a team, NDSU shot 877 and finished in fourth place out of seven teams.
Sacramento State won the title with a tournament total of 863.
Behind Johnson, Reid Mattson shot 220. Taylor Cavanagh fired a 222. Joe Schornack shot 225 and Jeff Noeske tied for 29th place with a 226.
“We can’t go anywhere in the postseason, so we just go out and play,” Johnson said. “It’s too bad it ends now.”
NDSU won’t be eligible for postseason competition in golf until the 2009 season, when its reclassification penalty expires.
After the first round, Johnson sat in eighth place. He made 12 pars and four birdies in the first round, but two double bogeys hurt his score.
Cameron Fennerich was one stroke behind Johnson, and Noeske and Schornack each were two strokes back after shooting 74.
On day two of the tournament, Johnson shot 67, which tied him for the lowest round of the day.
He entered the final round with a one-stroke lead.
Needless to say, starting the final round with a bogey wasn’t Johnson’s plan, but he said it didn’t affect him.
He said that because he opened the second round with a bogey and was still able to shoot 67, he knew it was possible to do again Sunday.
“I am not going to lie, there were some nerves,” Johnson said. “But the last half of the season, I have felt really good. I kind of felt like I finally remember how to swing and realized that I can win college golf tournaments.”
The victory was Johnson’s fourth of the season.
The Elk River, Minn. native had been a top-golfer for NDSU his previous seasons, but didn’t win an individual title until this fall at the Navy Invitational.
After the victory, he won NDSU’s Erv Kaiser Invitational and the Western Illinois Beu/Mussatto Invitational.
Iverson is excited about his team’s performance, but wishes it didn’t have to end.
“It’s too bad the season is over, we are just hitting our stride,” Iverson said. “It takes a few rounds of golf outdoors to get in the rhythm. Now we are feeling comfortable and the season is over.”
Johnson is the only NDSU golfer to win an Independent championship and will likely be the last as the program will begin competing in the Mid-Continent Conference next season.