Men’s golf excels on and off course

Currently ranked 25th in the nation by the Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches’ Preseason Poll in Golf World Magazine, the men’s golf team has proven its talent not only on the course but in the classroom as well. The Golf Coaches Association of American has announced that the Luther College men’s golf team has been recognized as an Outstanding Academic Team for 2008-2009.

The award, in its first year, recognizes those schools whose entire squad earns an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher for the academic year. Luther was one of 20 NCAA III schools that were presented this honor.

In addition to the team honor, Luther golfers Ross Jacobucci (‘10), Tom Lantzy (‘09) and Paul Soener (‘09) have been named 2009 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars for the NCAA III. The 42-member team was announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America at the Division III Men’s National Golf Tournament held May 13-16 at the PGA Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, Fla. and hosted by Methodist University. To be eligible for Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-American Scholar status, an individual must be a junior or senior academically and compete in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participate in 70 percent of his teams competitive rounds or compete in the NCAA championship, have a stroke average of 79.0 or lower in Division III and maintain a minimum cumulative gradepoint average of 3.2 or higher.

During the ‘08-09 school year, Jacobucci had the lowest scoring average on his team (75.2 strokes per round) and was selected as a Division III Academic All-American while maintaining a GPA of 3.2 or higher. Lantzy and Soener, both two-time all-conference performers, became the fifth and sixth golfers in Luther history to be named a Scholar All-American twice during their careers. This is the first season that eight-time Iowa Conference oach of the Year Scott Fjelstul has had three golfers receive this distinguished honor in a single year. During his 22-year career he has coached 12 golfers who have earned 18 Scholar All-America Honors, led the Norse to three conference championships and three trips to the NCAA III National Tournament. Fjelstul returns six letter winners from last year’s squad that finished second at the Iowa Conference championships.

In their most recent tournament in the St. John’s Invite, Sept. 19-20, the Norse finished fourth overall, with Aaron Smith (‘12) finishing second individually with a final round of 73 in a field of 109 players.

Jacobucci finished tied for 17th with rounds of 77-78-115. He was followed by Alec Schumacher (‘10) who tied for 33rd with an 82-76-158, Jack Mcleod (‘12) who tied for 40th with a 77-82-159, Alex Gaudian (‘10) who tied for 97th with an 85-83-168, Reid Wilson (‘10) who also tied for 97th with and 87-84-171, and Ben Jordan (‘12) who tied for 101st with an 83-91-174 finish. The Norse will continue their fall portion of their season Sept. 27-28, when they play in the UW-Eau Claire Invitaional.