The Park University men's golf team are 2023 Heart of America Athletic Conference Champions, winning the conference tournament at the Preserve on Rathbun Lake Golf Course in Moravia, Iowa on Monday and Tuesday.
The Pirates are coming off of impressive, record breaking performances from their last tournament at the Raider Invitational and continued their masterful play for the conference title. Not only is this the first Heart championship win, but the first-ever conference championship in program history.
For Head Coach
Martha Linscott, she now has won Heart titles with Park's women's team in 2021 and now with Park's men's team after today since coming on board at Park in the Winter of 2021.
The 54-hole tournament featured outstanding play by the top of the conference and the race for first-place was between Missouri Valley and Park. The Pirates were the leader after each round with scores of 284, 287, and 278 for a grand total of 849.
The Pirates were 10 strokes under-par in the final round on a gorgeous day at the Preserve, which gave them their lowest 18-hole round in school history with a 278. A little over a week ago, the Pirates just broke this record with a 279.
This led into the lowest 54-hole tournament team score in program history as well, which is what it took to defeat Missouri Valley, who was one stroke back of Park when the final scores were tallied. The Vikings' Mateo Quiroga was 15 strokes under-par and was the tournament individual champion.
It's hard to know where to start when it comes to identifying the key component of Park's success, as it truly was a mixture of historic lows and career personal bests up and down the Pirate lineup.
Guillermo Cervantes and
Raphael Sippel were both named Heart All-Conference after the win. Cervantes is now a three-time Heart All-Conference student-athlete with his best finish yet at 2
nd place with scores of 68, 72, 70 for a 210. This will go down as one of the most complete rounds in Park history with the 54-hole tournament score record.
He had 14 birdies and one eagle on the tournament with none more important than two birdies in his last three holes in round three.
Sippel, a senior Pirate, played some of his best of golf of his career with his new career-round low with a 69 after round one. He took 5
th on four under-par with a 212 for the tournament.
Two more Pirates were in the top 10, including
Cholnan Nunya T6th and
Dylan Comstock in T8th.
Nunya shot a 213 with consistent scores of 72, 70, 71 for a 213, three under-par.
Comstock had the largest turnaround of any golfer in the field, moving up 19 places. He set Park's all-time record for lowest 18-hole round with a 65 in round two. He was seven strokes under par with seven birdies and zero bogies in round three. He began the front-nine today with five birdies out of his first six holes. For the tournament he was two under-par with scores of 75, 74, 65 for a 214.
Adam Gibson, the only freshman in Park's lineup, was the final golfer for Park with scores of 79, 78, 80 for a 237 or eight strokes over-par. Â
As tournament champion, the Pirates are the automatic qualifier to the 2023 NAIA Men's Golf National Championship and will be the Pirates first appearance since restarting the program in 2017-18. The national tournament is set for May 16-19 in Mesa, Arizona at Las Sendas Golf Club.
Team/Individual Results
#ParkUNation
