St. Paul, Minn. – Gustavus Adolphus men’s golfer Matt Jensen (Sr., Edina, Minn.) has been named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Athlete-of-the-Week for his performance at the Twin Cities Classic held this past weekend.
Jensen carded an eight-over-par 222 to finish in a tie for second place overall against a field of field of 100 golfers from 15 different schools. Jensen shared the runner-up position with Alex Kapraun of the University of St. Thomas and Scott Mazur of the University of Manitoba. As a team, Gustavus placed fourth with a three-day team-score of 913 (+49).
“Jensen battled hard and had a great weekend,” said Head Coach Scott Moe. “In his first round at Northfork, he was three-over after four holes and made pars on the last 14 holes in tough conditions. He came back on Monday and posted the third lowest round of the day, birding holes 14, 15, and 16 to get to one-under and finish even par.”
In the opening round played at the Links at Northfork, Jensen led the Gusties with a three-over 75 to finish the day in 15th. He followed his day one performance with a five-over 77 at the Elk River Golf Club on Sunday, dropping seven places on the leaderboard to 22nd. Not to be discouraged by his standing after two days, Jensen came back firing at Gustavus’s home course on Monday. The senior turned in his best round of the year, shooting an even-par 70 at the Le Sueur Country Club to launch himself onto the podium after a jump of 20 spots in the standings.
“I’m excited for him as we head into the MIAC Championships this weekend,” commented Moe. “He now has some well deserved confidence and his game is ready for the three-day battle at Bunker. The strong part of his game is making pars and being able to get up and down, which is what you have to do to be successful at the conference meet.”
Jensen heads into the weekend ranked second on the team in stroke average at 76.4. He has two top five finishes this season and is the first Gustie to earn Athlete-of-the-Week honors this year.
The Gustavus men’s golf team will now gear up for the 2013 MIAC Championships set to take place on Oct. 5-7 at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids, Minn. The Gusties will look to defend their title after claiming the 2012 crown with an 885 (+21). The first two rounds begin at 11:20 a.m., with Monday’s final round teeing off at 9 a.m. An awards ceremony will conclude the tournament Monday afternoon.