Tuesday, April 22, 2014

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho – The fourth time playing hole No. 1 proved to be the best for Northwest Nazarene’s Connor Magnuson, as he shot a three-stroke eagle in a playoff round to push the Crusaders to a 1-stroke victory over Saint Martin’s at the 2013-14 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championships presented by the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

“Playoffs are always intense, and I’ve never played one of this magnitude before,” Magnuson said. “We were all able to put our balls close off the tee, I had to wait about five minutes to putt, and I made the eagle putt to close it.”

Magnuson tied teammate Justin McAfee for fourth place overall, as each player shot a 3-round total of 221. Magnuson was the lone player to break par on the final day of the tournament, logging a 1-under 70 before his playoff heroics.

Entering Day 2 four strokes behind Western Washington, the Crusaders battled back to finish with a 3-round total of 892 (290-300-302) at the par-71, 6,803-yard Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.

A second-place finish by Ryan Baumgart of Saint Martin’s helped the Saints match NNU’s mark, as the teams completed the third and final round knotted at 892. Austin Spicer tied for fourth place with a score of 221 (73-72-76), and Patrick Whealdon tied for 10th with a 226 (77-76-73). 

Winning medalist honors was Simon Fraser freshman Kevin Vigna, who followed a 4-under second round mark of 67 with an even-par 71 in his final round. Vigna’s total of 213 (75-67-71) made him the lone player to finish at par, and his 67 was the low round of the competition. On his final two shots of the day, Vigna notched an eagle on the par-4, 482-yard 18th hole. 

Western Washington finished in fourth place with a team score of 897 (296-290-311), and Kyle Schrader tied for second place with a score of 220 (71-69-80). Chris Hatch was also in the top-10 for the Vikings, logging a 221 (76-68-77). 

Western Washington had won the previous six GNAC Men’s Golf Championships, dating back to the inaugural tournament in the Spring of 2008.

Rounding out the field with a team score of 919 (309-296-314) was Montana State Billings. The Yellowjackets’ Gage Huft finished in eighth place with a 3-round total of 222 (75-74-73).

Entering the final nine holes of the tournament, four teams were separated by just five strokes total. NNU and WWU were tied through the first nine holes of the third round, with Saint Martin’s four strokes behind and Simon Fraser five back.