Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – A career-low round and improved team positions highlighted the MacEwan Griffins golf teams' foray into the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference South Regional tournament on the weekend.
Jordan Hoyda shot a 9-over 81 in the opening round at Valley Ridge GC and closed with an 88 to finish fourth in women's individual play with a 169, just two shots shy of second. That lands in the top-10 in program history for lowest women's score at an ACAC regional tourney.
She led the Griffins women's team to a tie for third in the team standings and helped MacEwan's mixed squad finish second, just one shot off winner UAlberta-Augustana. The Griffins men's team also improved in the standings, moving up to third place from fourth a week before.
"Jordan is definitely trending in the right direction right now," said head coach Jodi Campbell. "She's providing a lot of leadership on the team and I think in some ways her providing that leadership has allowed her to take some pressure off her own game.
"That first round she had – the 81 – was her lowest as a Griffin, but it could have been even better. Her getting into the mix and getting to the top of the leaderboard is obviously helping the team. It's been just such a great little confidence builder for her."
In the opening round, Skyler Thompson matched a career low round of 88 that she shot a week earlier at Red Tail Landing before struggling to a 111 in tougher conditions on Day 2. She placed ninth overall.
"She has made huge strides since her first year on the team," noted Campbell. "In Year 1, for her to try to break 110 and in Year 2 improve her game to the point where she's throwing an 88 down and contributing to the team, her story has been huge. What can sometimes happen is our expectations can get in our way. I think her going into Day 2 was just as much mental as it was the fact that the course was playing really difficult.
"For Skyler, she needed to have that experience," he added. "She needed to play really well and then go through the experience of managing the mental side of the game on Day 2. She's going to be able to manage that, grow and learn from it."
Terynn Jensen (12th - 111-101) and Taylor Eskdale (109-128) rounded out the Griffins women's team results.
On the men's side, even with the course lengthened, the wind up and more difficult pin positions in place for Sunday's final round, Justin Berget shaved seven strokes off his first-round effort. His even-par 72 on Day 2 led the field as he bounced back from a 7-over 79 on Saturday to finish tied for fourth.
"Just pure grit and determination – that's what he's bringing to the team this year," said Campbell. "Justin is leading by example. If you looked at his (Sunday) scorecard, he was 40 on the front and 32 on the back. We talk about bounce-backs all the time and that was just an unreal bounce-back.
"It helped the team, he didn't give up. That's just the kind of leadership he's providing right now. He's a gamer and just wants to do well. The fact he was 4-over on the front and went 4-under on the back was phenomenal."
Justin Berget bounced back on Sunday with an even-par 72 at Valley Ridge GC to finish tied for fourth (SAIT Trojans photo).
Rookies Blake Caron (ninth – 79-76) and Stephen Christenson (10th – 77-79) also showed well in helping the team finish third.
"We're certainly liking the play coming out of Stephen Christenson," said Campbell. "He's doing what we thought he would do – be that consistent player on the team. Blake Caron has also been playing really well. He had the second-best score on Day 2 and is starting to show he can play with a lot of these other teams even as a rookie."
Jarrett Bossert (T14th – 82-79), Noah Lubberding (T16th – 76-86), Jose Lopez Peterson (21st - 75-89) and Nate Gerhardt (27th – 84-87) rounded out MacEwan's efforts.
"I think the big thing for both the men's and women's teams is we're wanting to continually improve as the year goes along," said Campbell. "We made a step forward – we were in fourth place last week at Red Tail and finished in third this week. Also, the mixed team finished in second, so we're definitely moving in the right direction.
"At this point, we've got a big weekend coming up with the ACAC Championship. This is where we've got to have that momentum keep going and hit our stride. Lots to do this week in preparation for that still, but we're trending in the right direction and that's what matters."
The ACAC Championship is set for Sept. 28-29 at Coal Creek Golf Resort in Ryley, Alta.
