Broncbusters qualify for nationals for second time in three years.
By Mike Pilosof
Wichita, KS-For the second time in three years, Garden City punched their ticket to the national tournament.
The Broncbusters finished fourth as a team at the NJCAA District III Championships at Crestview Country Club, while Isaac MacNaughton came in 15th individually.
"I'm proud of our guys and their effort to get to this point," Head Coach Phil Terpstra said. "It's a big accomplishment to get to nationals, especially in a year where nothing was a given."
After shooting a 76 in the opening round, MacNaughton used a strong front-nine, fueled by birdies on two and six, to shoot a 2-over 74 in the second. He followed that up with another 74 in the final round on Tuesday bringing his two-day total to 224 (9-over).
"Isaac put himself into a really good position, especially after that second round," Terpstra mentioned.
Teammate Adam Samnegard tied for 19th with fellow Broncbusters Emil Jakobsen and Oliwer Toiminen. Samnegard shot rounds of 73, 75, and 78 while Jakobsen fired a team-best 71 in round two. He was 1-under through nine holes before dropping a birdie on 16 and par putts on 17 and 18. Toiminen started strong with consecutive birdies to begin the tournament on Monday. In fact, he had three of them on the front side where he shot 1-under. He added two more on the final nine including the challenging par-5 18th, which covered more than 500 yards of real estate.
"This was definitely a team effort," Terpstra added. "We needed everyone to get this done, and they responded."
Philip Stjernlof was the final Broncbuster in the top 25, finishing in 25th place at 15-over.
Hutchinson won the team title with Blue Dragon star Harry Crockett shooting a 6-under for the top individual spot. Indian Hills came in second followed by Iowa Western. Dodge City grabbed the last qualifying spot with a fifth-place finish.
Next up: NJCAA National Championships, May 10-13 at Rawls Course-Lubbock, TX