The Grand Valley State University golf team started the 2021 fall season on a high note on Saturday, Sept. 5-6. GVSU hosted the Arendsen Invitational at Meadows Golf Club where they defended their home course by winning with a 54-hole combined team score of 848 (-4). 

This score left a wide margin between GVSU and the runner-ups, the University of Findlay, who shot an 862 (+10), and in third was the University of Indianapolis with a score of 870 (+18). Some other notable schools in the field were GLIAC rivals Ferris State and Saginaw Valley State, who finished in seventh and eighth places respectively. 

This impressive team performance was led by redshirt freshman Charlie DeLong. DeLong finished the Invitational with a score of 207 (-6) which was low enough for him to finish in first place individually. 

“Hitting good tee shots is pretty important and I did that fairly well,” DeLong said. “I kept it in play; I really didn’t take any penalty shots. Not shooting yourself in the foot was a pretty big key. And I putted pretty well and when you make a lot of puts it’s hard to shoot that bad of a score.”

DeLong was not the only Laker near the top of the leaderboard. Another redshirt freshman, Nick Krueger, finished in fourth with a score of 211 (-2). Rounding out the scoring golfers were redshirt freshman, Drew Coble, and junior, Eric Nunn. Coble tied for eleventh with a score of 216 (+3) and Nunn was only one stroke back with a 217 (+4), which resulted in a tie for 13th. 

“That is definitely the way we wanted to start,” said DeLong. “We have pretty high expectations and goals. We know we are good enough to beat anybody. Doing it right off the start is fun. Our whole deal here is that we are trying to win a national championship. If we are going to do that we have got to be able to win, week in and week out.” 

The golf team also competed in the Al Watrous Tournament on Sept. 11-12 in Bay City, taking home a score of 286 (-2), right behind Findlay after the first round. The difference with this tournament compared to the Arendsen Invitational is that it’s only a 36-hole event in comparison to last week’s 56 holes, and it was hosted at Saginaw Valley Public Golf Course. 

“I hear it (Saginaw Valley Public Golf Course) is fairly short and narrow,” said DeLong. “So what I have heard is if you can keep it in play there are some opportunities for some low scores.”

The team had time to play a practice round before the tournament, so each player had some knowledge of the course heading into round one. Another positive is that this type of short and narrow course design is nothing new for the Lakers since Meadows Golf Course, GVSU’s home course, also demands high-quality play off the tee. So the course design should play in the Lakers’ favor.

“Going into any tournament we are trying to win as a team,” DeLong said. “If we just stick to the same things I think we will see similar results here coming up.”

As the golf team carries this momentum into the Al Watrous Tournament, they’re hoping to see similar results in round two and for the remainder of their fall season. Sept. 20-21, the Lakers will be traveling to the Doc Spragg Invitational in Findlay, OH for their penultimate tournament of the season.