The University of Evansville men’s golf team officially starts the spring 2021 season on Monday with a trip to Lake Jovita Country Club in Dade City, Florida for the Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play.
Set to begin on Monday, the two-day event will consist of three rounds of match play competition, two rounds Monday and one round Tuesday. Teams are seeded 1 through 7 based upon 2019-20 year-end Golfstat rankings and then placed into a bracket. As the No. 1 seed, Ball State has a bye in the first round. The team that loses by the widest margin in the first round will sit out the second round and then play in the fifth-place match in the final round. The team that loses in both of the first two rounds will sit out the final round and finish in seventh place. Each team match will consist of six individual matches. Lineup order for each team is based upon 2019-20 year-end Golfweek player rankings, with the top-rated player in the No. 1 position and so on.
A shotgun start with continuous play opens up on Monday at 8:30 a.m. where the first and second rounds will be played. The final round of action on Tuesday is also set for an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Evansville will face Eastern Michigan in the opening round.
Dallas Koth finished with a 72.90 stroke average last season to lead the Aces squad. Matthew Ladd was just behind him with a 73.18. Koth was on a roll in the spring when the pandemic put a halt to the season. In the first event of 2020, Koth took second place at the ASU Spring Classic, carding a 3-round score of 211 (5 under par) to come home in second place.
Koth continued his strong start with a tie for 8th place at the Don Benbow Invitational. In five spring rounds, he finished with a 72.20 average. Two more returners finished with averages near the 74 mark. Spencer Wagner finished the 2019-20 campaign with a 74.10 average with three rounds in the 60’s in the spring of 2019. His lowest effort – a 68 – came in the final fall round at the APSU Intercollegiate.
Isaac Rohleder was another player who was nearing the top of his game last spring. After averaging 75.20 strokes in the fall of 2019, Rohleder cut that down by three strokes, finishing his five spring rounds with a 72.20. His 1-under 215 at the ASU Spring Classic earned him a tie for fifth place while his 2-under 69 in the final. Koth, Ladd and Wagner earned spots on the 2020 Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Scholar-Athlete First Team.
