Birdie a nice way to go out for Schultz but Rattlers far down leaderboard at golf nationals

By Medicine Hat News on October 19, 2019.

It was certainly a beautiful final day at Continental Golf Course near Montreal, and at least one of the Medicine Hat College Rattlers had a storybook finish.

After the third round of nationals was rained out Thursday, the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championship ended Friday with one Rattler in the top half of their respective standings and neither men’s or women’s teams near the podium.

Nicole Schultz, playing her last round as a college athlete, at least closed with a highlight.

“It was definitely a grind for me, I was struggling with putting for sure, but regrouped at the end and was able to birdie the last hole (the par-5 ninth) to save an 85 which was my goal for the tournament,” said Schultz, who finished tied for 14th in the 22-person ladies field. “It was more about just going out there, having another experience and soaking it all up.”

Schultz, Sierra Zukowski and Ciara Bonogofski finished seventh out of eight teams in their last college tournament together. All three are graduating after this season but have made plenty of good memories together, this week included.

Even with the tough finish on a course made all the more challenging by scores of fallen leaves and tree-lined fairways, Schultz had to admit it’s been a glorious ride going to four national events together. They first went in 2017, were part of the host team’s silver medal win at Desert Blume last year, then were invited to the Canadian University/College Championship this past May.

“Very bittersweet, to think that four years has already flown by is pretty incredible,” said Schultz, who’s finishing up a nursing degree. “It was a good last round, the group of girls I played with definitely made the last round memorable.”

Zukowski shot a final-round 91 to finish 17th, while Bonogofski didn’t play the second round due to injury but fired a 109 Friday.

Champlain St. Lawrence’s Elizabeth Labbe had a 3-under 69 to win individual women’s honours, while also leading her host team to gold by a whopping 28 strokes.

In the men’s competition, Champlain’s Louis-Alexandre Jobin-Colgan went 2-under in the final round to win by a stroke over MacEwan’s Justin Berget. Champlain wrapped up their home course dominance with a team win in men’s play as well.

As for Medicine Hat, their men’s team was last out of 11 while rookie Caleb Kinch tied for 26th after a final-round 78. Chase Broderson was tied for 44th, Brady Resch was 49th, Derek Wilson tied for 52nd and Mathieu Chapdelaine was tied for 54th in the 59-man field.

“I think everyone’s fairly disappointed,” said first-year head coach Dillon Batsel. “I’m not going to lie, we had a great time this week, that was never going to be in the question.

“The results are a little bit disappointing for most people and as a team collectively. But that’s the way it is. We got a little unfortunate with our ability to practice the week leading right up to this tournament. Golf’s not a game where you can take a week off, then come expect to play your best. You need to be clicking.”

Batsel will have plenty of time to start working on next year’s roster, hoping to find new players for the women’s team and waiting to see which of the men will return. The men won the Alberta team title, after all, to earn their spot in Quebec and all of them are technically eligible to come back for a shot at repeating.

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