By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – After sitting just one stroke off the lead heading into day two of competition, Morgan Brasser ran away with the individual title at the Holiday Inn Express Classic in at the St. Joseph Country Club, a par-72 venue. She shot an opening round 2-over par 74, then backed that with an impressive even-par 72 to win the tournament by five strokes. She helped the Tigers to a fifth-place finish as a team.
Jessica Green of Rogers State led the tournament at 1-over par following the first round. Brasser held the lead for a good chunk of the first round before Green slipped to the top near the end of competition on Monday. On day two, Brasser asserted her presence by going 2-under par in her first four holes, finished her first nine at 1-under, and then eventually settled at even by shooting 1-over on the second nine. Green could not find a birdie in a 4-over par front nine, then she slipped even further with a double bogey on her 12th hole of the day and shot 6-over for the round to finish at +7 overall.
The rest of the field did not put up much of a challenge as Brasser and Green were the only two inside of +12 overall. Outside of Green, Brasser was 10 strokes clear of the remainder of the field. Brasser finished the tournament with eight birdies, eight bogeys, and one double bogey. Other than that, she was a par machine with 19 over the two rounds. Her eight birdies were best of any golfer in the field.
Kerrigan Rudolph shot 88 in the opening round and 85 in the second round to finish in a tie for 40th. Shauna Lee shot rounds of 93 and 82 to finish in a tie for 48th. Kira Mestl carded rounds of 90 and 85 to tie Lee for 48th. Lexie Ridder shot 101 and 86 to finish 65th.
Brasser’s strong individual performance anchored the fifth-place finish for the FHSU women out of 13 teams competing at +93. Rogers State, ranked 20th nationally, won the tournament at +51, while Missouri Western was second at +78. Wayne State was third at +88 and Iowa Central Community College was a stroke behind at +89.
The Tigers will play their next two tournaments at Sand Creek Station in Newton, Kansas. The Tigers will be there April 4-5 at the Newman Invitational and then April 21-23 the course will be the site of the MIAA Championships.
Men
BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. – Fort Hays State Men’s Golf finished fifth, while Tanner Copeland jumped 20 spots into a Top-10 finish at the NSIC Spring Preview Invitational on Tuesday (Mar. 29). Copeland tied for ninth individually. The tournament took place at Adams Pointe Golf Club, a par-72 layout.
The Tigers sat in a tie for fifth after day one of competition with Bemidji State, shooting 306 (+18) as a team. They made a big improvement on Tuesday shooting just 7-over par as a team with a 295 and finished fifth alone. It was the team’s second-best round total of the season. Tanner Copeland, Jackson Rader, and Dustin Nichols had a big part in the day-two improvement. Copeland shot a 1-under par 71, which was career best and was one of five under par rounds for the tournament. Rader shot a 1-over 73 and Nichols shot a 2-over 74, while Bryce Cowan and Parker Krob each shot 77 (+5).
The Tigers were very much in the team race to finish in the top three. They were only four strokes back of second-place Rockhurst, three back of third-place Drury, and three back of fourth-place Winona State.
Copeland’s 71 following a 77 to open the tournament vaulted him from 29th to a tie for 9th in the individual standings at 148 total. Cowan slipped from a tie for fifth after an opening round 73 to a tie for 15th with a total of 150. Rader’s second-round 73 followed an opening round 77 for a 150 total, tying Cowan for 15th. Nichols had a big improvement from a first-round 82 with a 74 and Parker Krob shot rounds of 79 and 77, tying both for 45th at 156.
Rogers State, ranked 14th nationally, won the team title by 17 strokes, shooting just 4-over par as a team through two rounds. Luke Palmowski of Rogers State ran away with the tournament individually finishing at 5-under par overall. He shot 5-under in the first round to hold a one-stroke lead going into the second round, which expanded to a five-stroke win by the end of the tournament.
The Tigers return to action on April 4-5 at The Mule, hosted by the University of Central Missouri at Mules National Golf Club in Warrensburg, Mo.