The UND men’s golf team finished up its final tournament of the year last Wednesday after competing in the Big Sky Championship at Greenhorn Creek Golf Course in Angels Camp, California.

“I think compared to last year, we did a lot better,” junior captain Aaron Pulanco said on playing in Big Sky tournament for the first time. “However, I know that everyone is capable of doing a lot better than we did this past weekend.”

Though the team didn’t have the finish it wanted, it still closed out the season with its best round at the tournament, carding a score of 310 after shooting 324 and 318 in the two previous rounds.

North Dakota was familiar with the Greenhorn Creek Golf Course as it finished up its last year in the American Sky Championship.

Pulanco and sophomore Daniel Sayler both carded a 79 (+7) in their opening rounds of the tournament and had North Dakota in 7th place in the standings with a (+24) after the first day.  Sayler continued to play good golf into day two of the tournament, hitting 15 of 18 greens, and shooting a team best 78. Sayler was one stroke better in each of his rounds as he went on to shoot a 77 in the final round and he finished 29th overall.

Junior Jacob Dehne shot the best score for UND with a 74 in the final round while senior Collin Lervick concluded his collegiate career with his best round of the tournament, finishing with a 78.

Pulanco birdied his final hole of the day to end his round with a score of 82.

“For the team’s experience, this tournament is the biggest of the year,” Pulanco said. “So it definitely helps and makes other tournaments less stressful moving forward.”

North Dakota moved into the Big Sky conference this season after spending six seasons in the American Sky Conference. Idaho sophomore Jared du Toit was the star of the tournament, leading the Vandals to a 21-stroke victory and a conference title after tying the course record, shooting 66.

“It was good,” Pulanco said. “The biggest difference between this year and last year was the conference tournament. Even though the tournament was at the same course as last year, the condition of the course, the lodging, and meals, for example, seemed more coordinated. Also, the ceremony at the end for tournament awards was really nice.”

With Collin Lervick being the lone senior on the North Dakota roster, the team will go into its offseason and come back next year with a team mostly built on upper classmen.  Pulanco, Brady Ohman, Jacob Dehne and Andrew Strand will all be back next year for their senior seasons.

“I want to try and get as many lessons as I can with my coach over the summer,” Pulanco said on his offseason plans. “And to just practice as much as I can with putting, chipping, driving and everything in between.”

Ben Novak is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].