SMSU places 8th at Mustang Invite
MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State University golf team’s two-day score of 87-over wasn’t enough to compete with the top of the field at the Mustang Invitational at Marshall Golf Club over the weekend. The Mustangs placed ninth out of the 12 teams that it hosted in the penultimate event of its fall season.
Augustana won the meet with a team-score of 16-over. Its 9-over on Saturday and 7-over on Sunday were both the best rounds of the day.
Following the Vikings, Northwest Missouri finished as the tournament runner-up at 21-over while Minnesota State’s A-team placed third at 24-over. Minnesota State’s B-team also took third at 38-over, edging out Morningside by one stroke and finishing 12 back of fourth-place Sioux Falls. The Mavericks’ B-team was tied with their A-team for third place after the first day, but a 24-over second round dropped the B-team out of its tie with the A-team and behind Sioux Falls after the Cougars shot an 11-over.
After shooting a 42-over on day 1, SMSU shot a 45-over on Sunday.
Junior Meghan Pundsack was the Mustangs’ top finisher, placing 24th in the field of 78 with a two-day score of 13-over. Pundsack had been in 13th place after her 3-over Saturday round but dropped 11 spots following her 10-over performance on Sunday.
Pundsack had four bogeys and a double bogey on the front 9 but cleaned up her play with just three holes over par on the back 9.
Danielle Podoll, the lone senior on the Mustang roster, dropped 11 spots to 32nd place after following up her 6-over first round with a 10-over second round.
Podoll performed particularly well on the front 9, racking up seven pars and a 4-over score. She had a birdie on the back 9 but three bogeys and a pair of double bogeys brough her score up to a 6-over 42.
Berkley Steffen and Mallory Uselman rounded out the Mustang scorers in 41st and 43rd place after each shooting an 8-over on Sunday. Steffen shot a 10-over on Saturday to bring her two-day score to 18-over while Uselman’s 11-over Saturday round brought her to 19-over.
Augustana’s Masyn Mock jumped up four places to finish as the individual champion with a day-best 3-under on Sunday to finish the tournament at 2-under. Her teammate, Lanie Veenendall, finished third after shooting even-par both days while Northwest Missouri’s Paige Hoffman finished as the runner-up with a 2-under to wrap the tournament at 1-under.
Minnesota State (B)’s Aly Blomberg led the tournament after day 1 at 1-under but her 4-over Sunday round dropped her to seventh place.
SMSU will wrap up its fall season at Northwest Missouri’s Midwest Classic at Mozingo Lake Golf Course in Maryville, Mo. on Oct. 14 and 15. From there, the Mustangs will be off from competition until the SMSU Spring Invite at Wigwam Resort Red Course in Litchfield Park, Ariz. on March 10-11.