Jordan Jacobo

Sports editor

Heading into the final test of the fall season, the dominating men’s golf team performances Oct. 11 and 12 helped to solidify Linfield’s status as the anticipated team to beat in the Northwest Conference.

Team co-captains senior Andrew Fitch and junior Tyler Nelson finished in first and second place at the Pacific/George Fox Invitational. They topped the competition with two-day totals of 143 and 142 strokes, respectively.

On their heels were juniors Yutaro Sakamoto with 145 strokes and Tony Kordosky with 146 strokes. Their efforts were good enough for third and fifth overall in the tournament.

Pacific University’s top golfer, freshman J.T. Compher, tied Sakamoto’s total. George Fox University was led by freshman Mike Ulstad with 154 strokes.

The ‘Cats talent-packed roster proved too much for Pacific, which is expected to be the toughest competition at the eight-team NWC Fall Classic on Oct. 18 and 19. Linfield finished with a team total of 573 strokes for its top six golfers during two days, a comfortable 27 strokes ahead of Pacific.

The ‘Cats’ talent-filled roster accounted for six of the top 10 finishes. Fitch said the near-sweep will be a definite confidence boost heading into the first tournament that will factor into NWC standings.

“Now even if one of us has a bad day, we know our teammates will do well,” he said.

With such a high level of play among even the sixth and seventh best golfers on the team, the competition level at practice will increase considerably, Fitch said, now that there are no guarantees for who will represent the ‘Cats in their tournaments.

Nelson said it was encouraging to see everyone have such low scores but added that Gearhart Golf Links is a course susceptible to birdies. Still, he said, seeing everyone’s two-day total be less than 150 strokes was a major accomplishment.

“Knowing that we are going into the Fall Classic, I think everyone is starting to round into peak form,” Nelson said.

Coming off Linfield’s historic season last year, including its first conference championship in golf since 1964 and a trip to the National Championships, Fitch said the team has internalized an expectation of winning. With that confidence, the ‘Cats are hands-down the favorite to win the Fall Classic and capture another second-straight NWC title in the spring.

Keeping themselves in check and avoiding looking past the task at hand, Fitch said the golfers are self-policing.

“We’re all looking over each others’ shoulders,” he said. “We want to show the nation that we’re capable of winning a national championship.”

Goal-setting has been a major aim of head coach Greg Copeland this season and is keeping the team focused and hungry to continue mproving, even if they measure against themselves and not necessarily their opposition, Fitch said.

He said last year’s experience of finishing 17th at the 35-team NCAA Championships was just a step in the right direction.

“We were just happy to be there,” Fitch said. “But this year we want to be in serious competition to be national champions.”

The NWC Fall Classic will be held at the Canyon Lakes Golf Club in Kennewick, Wash. It is the final tournament of the fall season.

The spring schedule is yet to be announced.