The men’s golf team wrapped a historic season where they notched their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) title with a playoff loss at the NCAA Division National Championship in Conover, North Carolina.
Entering the tournament ranked sixth nationally, SFU placed fifth in the opening three days of stroke play, moving on to the match play round, which featured the top eight teams and ultimately decided the national champion.
The Clan opened the stroke play competition on Monday, May 18, shooting their worst round of the tournament with a combined score of 289 (+5). Sophomore Kevin Vigna and freshman Chris Crisologo led the team with an even par performance.
On both days two and three, the team shot shot 285 (+1), moving to fifth place, and thus securing a playoff spot. Crisologo led the team putting up a -2 over the three days, being tied for eighth individually and shooting the best round of any Clan golfer during the stroke play competition with a 69 (-2) on the second day.
Sophomore Alan Tolusso was one of the pleasant surprises of the stroke play round. The only member of the five who wasn’t part of the conference title-winning team, and having missed much of the regional championship due to illness, Tolusso was the second-best Clan golfer with +1, shooting even in the final two rounds.
SFU, the second GNAC team to ever make it to the top-eight playoff round, was paired up against Saint Leo University, who were ranked seventh going into the tournament, in the quarterfinal. Though St. Leo shot 290 (+6) on days one and three, a tournament best 278 (-6), put them a spot ahead of the Clan.
For the match play round, each of the five players were paired up against a player from St. Leo. In match play, a win nets the team a point, while a tie nets both teams half a point.
Though much of the rounds were close, Crisologo earned the Clan their only win, with the team finishing with one and a half points to St. Leo’s three and a half.
Senior John Mlikotic and Tolusso both lost their match by one stroke, while junior Bret Thompson lost by two strokes despite putting up the second best score for the Clan. Vigna earned the only tie of the round. Crisologo, the SFU victor of the round, won by a 13 stroke margin, putting up his best round with a 68 (-3).
“As a team we did solid. A couple of guys kind of held us in,” said Mlikotic. “I know there were some guys, myself included, that didn’t have our best stuff that week, but all said and done [. . .] we did well and can’t really complain about the performance there.”
Mlikotic struggled through the first day of stroke play, putting up a 78 (+7). However, he improved each day, scoring a 73 (-2) on Tuesday, and a 70 (-1) on day three, which moved him up 24 spots on the leaderboard.
For Mlikotic, the tournament marked his final round with SFU, having wrapped up his last year of NCAA eligibility.
“It was a little bittersweet. I would have liked to have keep moving on in the match play tournament but that being said, [. . .] I look back at it, it’s memories I will have for a lifetime.
