Story by Matt Higgins – Assistant to the Executive Director, MIAC
Gustavus’ Tyler McMorrow (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) picked a good time to shoot the best round of his young college career. The Gustie sophomore turned in his best collegiate score to finish under par and take second place among a talented field at Sunday’s 36-hole Saint John’s Spring Invitational. In the process, he helped Gustavus move from seventh place after round one, to second place in the final standings as the top Division III team in the field. For his performance, McMorrow has been named the final MIAC Men’s Golf Athlete-of-the-Week of the 2011-12 season.
McMorrow got off to a good start with a 73 (2-over par) over the first 18 holes, but he was just getting warmed up. He followed with the best 18-hole round of his career – a 5-under par 66 – to equal the lowest 18-hole score of the day and move into second place in the individual standings. He helped Gustavus improve from a first-round 297 to a season-best 280 over the second 18 holes to finish as the runner-up to Division II St. Cloud State. The Gusties were six shots better than the rest of the field, which included six other MIAC schools.
The Saint John’s Invite was the final event on the regular-season schedule for Gustavus in 2011-12. Now the Gusties will await word from the NCAA to see if they will receive an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championship. The NCAA meet will be held May 15-18 in Howey in the Hills, Fla., and the qualifiers will be announced on May 7 on the NCAA’s Web site.