Men’s Golf: Linfield Wins Fall Championship

The best four Linfield scorers shot an aggregate 298 each day for a total of 596, 11 strokes ahead of defending conference champion Whitworth.

Linfield's Tyler Nelson Photo courtesy: Linfield College

SISTERS - Linfield took a big first step toward a Northwest Conference men’s golf championship on Sunday, winning the Fall Classic at Aspen Lakes Golf Club.

Tyler Nelson was medalist for the 36-hole tournament with a total of three-under-par 141, which included a five-under 67 on Saturday. He shot two-over 74 on Sunday.

Linfield’s Jeff Nigro was third in individual standings with 73-75—148. Joel Rychard was the Wildcats’ low scorer Sunday with one-over-par 73 and captain Kyle Henderson was fourth at 157.

The Fall Classic counts for one-quarter of the conference championship. Teams get one point for each team their score beats in the Fall Classic, meaning Linfield has seven points.

They also get one point for each team they beat in the Spring Classic March 31st-April 1st and two points for each team they beat in the conference championship tournament April 22nd-23rd.

Nelson, the freshman medalist, noted that winning the Fall Classic was pretty big.

“It’s a good start. We are one step closer to going to nationals,” Nelson said.

The conference champion qualifies for the NCAA Division III national championship tournament.

“We all stepped up and played better today,” Nelson said. Except him; Nelson took seven strokes more than on Saturday. “I couldn’t get the putts to fall today,” he said.

Rychard, Sunday’s leader, said, “We’re really excited about going into spring being No. 1. It feels really good.”

The Wildcats will not resume formal practices until February; their spring season starts March 8th with the Puget Sound Invitational.

“For now, we need to focus on keeping our grades up,” Rychard said.

Coach Greg Copeland likes the depth of talent on his team.

“It’s fun to see that almost every different day, a different kid steps up to lead the team. It’s not the same kid all the time.

“On any given day at least four of our six play pretty well.”

Copeland is looking forward to the spring season as well.

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