Scot-Fire Invite: April 27-28, 2012
April 28 - Round 2
Monmouth, IL – The Prairie Fire couldn't move up in the team standings in the second round of the Scot-Fire Invitational at Gibson Woods and wound up placing ninth.
The Fire, after shooting 320 in round one at Soangetaha Country Club for sixth place, had second round score of 329 to finish at 649. Senior Bobby Stuebi (Western Springs, IL, Lyons Township) shot an 80 on Saturday after a first round 75 to close at 155 and tie for 10th place overall.
Sophomore James Fenner (East Peoria, IL, Metamora) followed up his 79 in the first round with an 80 on the second day for a two-round score of 159 and a15th place finish. Senior Jamie Jang (San Carlos, CA, Carlmont High School) also carded an 80 on day two for a score of 163, placing him 19th individually. Senior Ben Wetherbee (Sydney, Australia, Woodstock) shot 89 in the second round and placed 28th in the tournament with a 172.
Monmouth College was the team champion with a score of 608, eight strokes ahead of runner-up Carl Sandburg College (616). Carroll University (622), Black Hawk College (626), and Illinois Central College (630) rounded out the top five.
First round leader Blake Mitchell of Iowa Wesleyan College, which finished sixth in the team standings with a 640, finished in first place with a 140. Mitchell shot 2-under 70s in both rounds and won by a comfortable seven strokes against Jason Buliga of Carl Sandburg and Matt Schlueter of Black Hawk, who tied for second place.
The tourney marked the end of the regular season for the Prairie Fire. The 2012 Midwest Conference Men’s Golf Championships begin with the first round on Thursday, May 3 at Aldeen Golf Course in Rockford. The three-round tournament concludes on Saturday, May 5.
Knox placed third in last year’s championships.
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April 27 - Round 1
Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire is in a good position to move into the top three teams, or even higher, after shooting a first round 320 on Friday at Soangetaha Country Club.
Knox has fared better in the second round throughout the spring season, and that could bode well for the squad. The Fire begins second round play in sixth place out of 12 teams. KC trails fifth place Illinois Central College (318) by just two strokes, Carroll University (317) by three, and third place Black Hawk Community College (316) by four strokes.
Monmouth College's top four individual scores ranged from 73 to 76, boosting the Fighting Scots into first place with an opening round 299. Carl Sandburg College (309) finished 10 strokes behind Monmouth for second place.
Rounding out the rest of the pack is St. Ambrose University (322) in seventh place, followed by Iowa Wesleyan College (324), Benedictine University of Springfield (332), the Monmouth White team (336), Culver-Stockton College (338), and Illinois College (341).
The Prairie Fire’s Bobby Stuebi (Western Springs, IL, Lyons Township) fired a 3-over par 75 in the first round. The Knox senior Stuebi is tied for sixth place with five other golfers.
Iowa Wesleyan’s Blake Mitchell was the only golfer to break par. His 2-under 70 leads all golfers. Mitchell has a two stroke lead on Nick Gustafson of Carl Sandburg College, who shot an even 72.
Sophomore James Fenner (East Peoria, IL, Metamora) had the second-lowest score for Knox with a 79. He’s in 21st place on the individual leaderboard. Seniors Jamie Jang (San Carlos, CA, Carlmont High School) and Ben Wetherbee (Sydney, Australia, Woodstock) both carded 83s to tie for 33rd place.
Wetherbee has improved significantly this spring. He’s consistently had rounds in the lower to mid-80s after shooting in the 90s last fall. Wetherbee’s first round 83 is one stroke off his career best of 82.
Stuebi and Fenner shot slightly above their season averages. Stuebi leads the team with an average round of 77.4 and Fenner is next at 78.2. Jang and Stuebi earned medals at the 2011 Midwest Conference Men’s Golf Championships when both tied for fourth place. Jang is averaging a score of 83.2 per round. However, as he showed in the conference championships, he can shoot much better.
When Stuebi, Fenner, and Jang are on their games, Knox is a tough team to beat. The squad hopes the three talented golfers will each shoot in the low to mid-70s combined with another strong round from Wetherbee to finish strong on Saturday.
The second round of the Scot-Fire Invitational, which shifts to Gibson Woods Golf Course on Saturday, is the final tune-up for the Prairie Fire before the 2012 Midwest Conference Championships.
