APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University golf team had high expectations for the upcoming year, but those prospects ticked up a notch after a superlative start to the season.
The Vikings kicked off the fall season this past weekend by notching a pair of individual and team victories. Lawrence won the St. Norbert Invitational at Brown County Golf Course last Saturday and followed that with a win at the Lawrence Invitational at Eagle Creek Golf Club on Sunday.
“I don’t think we could have asked for a better start,” said senior Anton Olsson, who won his first collegiate title at St. Norbert.
Junior Rudi Pino then rolled to an impressive victory at Eagle Creek, winning by four shots over Olsson. The Vikings edged Marian by a stroke for the win at St. Norbert but rolled to a five-shot victory over the Green Knights at Eagle Creek.
“I was very satisfied because I would say that’s the best team effort from top to bottom since I started coaching at Lawrence,” assistant coach Chris Burns said. “It wasn’t just the scores, but it was the attitude and the effort the players put forth.”
It was the first time Lawrence has won back-to-back tournaments since May 2005 when the Vikings capped the season with victories at the St. Norbert Invitational and Midwest Conference Championships.
“I was just happy for the boys, especially since Nigel (Schuster), Nathan (Ley) and (Ryan) Clark are young,” Olsson said. “It was real nice to get something to build on. It wasn’t really a surprise that we played well.
“I knew both me and Rudi, especially Rudi, have been playing well the last couple of years. With Nathan and Nigel coming in last year, they have really been playing at their potential. This year, they looked great in practice. There weren’t any doubts that we would play well.”
The individual titles over the weekend were Lawrence’s first since John Pechan won the Ripon Invitational on Sept. 20, 2010.
Olsson had not played at Brown County before last Saturday so he took a cautious route to a four-over 76 and the victory.
“I was not playing aggressive at all,” said Olsson, also a goaltender on Lawrence’s hockey team. “I played safe throughout the entire round. I wasn’t going to chase any birdies. I was going to rely on my approach game if any birdies presented themselves. I didn’t take any risks. The biggest motivator was I wanted to beat Rudi.”
Olsson said he and Pino, who was his hockey teammate the past two seasons, have a spirited rivalry.
“It’s very competitive between us and that really helps. We play every week together and he’s been winning more lately. It’s fun to chase him,” Olsson said. “It makes it fun, but it’s also better for both of us.”
Olsson finished fourth in the Midwest Conference Championships last spring to earn all-conference honors. Pino, who missed the spring season due to a hockey injury, earned all-conference honors as a freshman in 2013.
“I think it’s the competition between the two that really pushes them,” Burns said. “They feed off each other as great athletes will do.”
Olsson and Pino are the team’s best players, but the Vikings have a nice supporting cast in sophomores Nigel Schuster, Nathan Ley and Ryan Eardley (currently out due to an injury) and freshman Ryan Clark.
“Now that (Schuster and Ley) are getting used to competing as sophomores, that’s really going to help our team,” Olsson said. “That’s been the biggest difference from the previous year where we had one or two players who could step up, now we have three or four.”
Lawrence returns to action on Monday and Tuesday when it travels to the Midwest Region Classic at Trappers Turn in Wisconsin Dells.
I’ll huff and I’ll puff
How windy was it on Sunday at the Lawrence Invitational? Olsson said he hit a 6-iron just 110 yards into the teeth of the north wind on the front nine. On the next hole, he hit a 9-iron 220 yards with the wind at his back.
“It was really tough conditions,” Olsson said. “Before the round, I said to myself, ‘If I get out there and I make a few mistakes, I’m sure I won’t be the only one.’ ”
Olsson, who shot 79 and finished second, was one of only three players to break 80.
“We won by a pretty comfortable margin because we didn’t let the weather affect us,” Burns said. “That’s one of the things I preach. You control what you can control.”