Blue

The Northern Kentucky University men’s golf team had a successful week, playing in the Great Lakes Valley Championships April 11-12 and the Regional Invitational in Indiana April 16-17.

The team finished in a tie for second place with Lewis after shooting a combined 301 over three days. Both teams finished behind champion Wisconsin-Parkside. The Norse put on a solid performance, leading after the first two rounds, before shooting a 308 on the third day.

“We played kind of bad (the third day),” NKU coach Daryl Landrum said. “But that’s just the way golf goes. We didn’t play as well as we were capable of on the last day.”

Sophomore David Shearer was the first Norse golfer since Jim Warken in 2003 to win the GLVC championship.

There was a tie between Shearer and Parkside’s Ryan Wnuk after the final hole, but Shearer won the medal in a playoff.

Shearer shot an NKU record 65 in the second round en route to winning the title.

Shearer has made strides from his freshman season, where he placed sixth at last year’s GLVC Championship.

“He shot real well,” Landrum said. “He could have had a better score, but he got a few bad breaks that last day.”

The Norse had three other golfers break in to the top-20 at the GLVC Championships. Senior Curtis Phelps and freshman Andrew Jewell finished in a tie for 14th place, shooting 228’s over the three rounds. Junior Mark Krahe finished in a tie for 19th place with a 231. Sophomore Jon Ehlen rounded out the top finishers for NKU, finishing with a 239.

The team relied heavily on the leadership of several of those players in the tournament, and throughout the season.

“David, Curtis, Mark, Jon, we have four real good leaders on this team,” Landrum said.

The Norse finished third out of 20 teams at the Regional Invitational, lead again by Shearer.

Shearer finished third at the Invitational after shooting 70 and 71 over the first two rounds.