The Lawrence University golf team closed out its regular season this last weekend by finishing fourth in their own tournament and second at Sunday’s St. Norbert Open.The Vikings faired well enough early in the season and held on for the Northern Division title. The Vikings defeated second-place St. Norbert by seventeen strokes.
For all five tournaments combined, the Vikings had 1,626 strokes compared to the Green Knight’s 1,643. The Vikings also had individual success in the Northern Division.
Freshman Jeff Henderson took first place in the St. Norbert Open and took first place over all in the Northern Division.
Henderson shot a 76 for a three shot victory over Kevin Hillman of St. Norbert. Henderson was the only golfer in the Northern Division to shoot all five rounds in the 70’s. He won the individual conference title with 388, three shots better than Hillman.
Henderson averaged 77.6 strokes per round in the conference.
The Vikings also had its other golfers fair well overall. Blake Nelson finished twenty shots behind Henderson with 408, but that was good enough for fifth overall in the conference.
Travis Orth was in a three-way tie for seventh with 416. Lawrence’s fourth golfer, Brion Winters, finished eleventh overall with 419.
The Vikings individually and as a team will be looking to bring home the overall conference title for the first time since 1949 this weekend at the MWC Tournament at The Aldeen Golf Club in Rockford, Ill.
The Vikings will have to defeat Knox, who is the host of this year’s tournament. The Prairie Fire has won the last eight conference tournaments and is primed to win their ninth consecutive after winning the Southern Division.
The Vikings have won four MWC crowns, but none since 1949. That was also the year of their last individual title won by Don Strutz. The Vikings will have to shoot well to compete with Knox, but if Henderson shoots as well as he has this season, he will be a major threat to win.