The Valparaiso University men’s golf team completed the first 36 holes of the UNA Spring Classic hosted by the University of North Alabama on Monday at Turtle Point Yacht & Country Club in Killen, Ala. Jack Juskow (Greenville, S.C. / Hamilton Southeastern), who finished the 36 holes at two strokes over par, holds the team lead entering the final round of the event.

How It Happened

• Juskow carded a 75 in the opening round before making a four-stroke improvement with a team-best 71 in Round 2. He finished the day at tied for 21^st at 146 (+2).
• Mitchell Wittmann (Kaukauna, Wis. / Kaukauna) had Valpo’s top score in the morning round, turning in a 71 (-1). He finished the day at +3, which put him at t-25 overall.
• Charlie Toman (Chardon, Ohio / Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) carded a 74 in Round 1 followed by a 75 in Round 2 to complete the opening day of action at +5.
• Valpo finished the day tied for seventh in the 12-team field with Troy as both squads enter Tuesday at +17. Valpo owns a two-stroke edge on conference foe Loyola while sitting four strokes back of DePaul.

Inside the Rounds

• Valpo finished with 111 pars over the two rounds, the fourth-most in the 12-team field. However, the team’s 21 birdies tied for the fewest among participants.
• Valpo performed well on Par 4 holes, averaging 4.16, tied for fourth among the teams in the event.
• Juskow turned in 25 pars for Valpo, while Wittmann and Charlie Toman (Chardon, Ohio / Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) led the team in birdies with six apiece.
• Garrett Willis (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Homestead) eagled a Par 5 on Hole 7 of Round 2.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

“We had a good start to the first round, playing the first six holes +2. We lost some steam during the middle of the round, but the guys finished the first round well, playing the last six holes -4.  The area where we left an awful lot of opportunities out there in the first round was on the putting green. The speed of our putts was very poor and we missed a lot of opportunities inside of 10 feet for birdie.”

“In the second round, we made a lot of pars, but still not enough birdies to give us the momentum that we needed. We didn’t play the Par 3s well - middle of the pack - and we didn’t take enough advantage of the Par 5s - last place in the field. On the other hand, the guys are playing hard and doing a lot of good things on the course. We still have not kicked enough of the rust off our short game coming off the winter months.”

“Both Jack and Mitch hit a lot of fairways and greens in regulation. Their ball-striking was very good. Jack had five birdies and Mitch had six and both guys still left a lot of opportunities out there. We’re getting close to having all of our guys firing on all cylinders and Jack has done a great job of leading by example in all of our spring tournaments.

Up Next

There are 18 holes remaining in the event, which will be played on Tuesday. Live scoring is available via GolfStat.