Craig Gaube was not having much luck on some of the greens, but that didn't stop him from sealing his victory at the Blue Hawk Invitational.
The Dickinson State senior three-putted four greens and fought through the cold, swirling wind to seal a four-stroke victory at the two-day golf tournament at Heart River Golf Course.
"You tried to keep it out of the wind, but it was tough," Gaube said. "It all came down to putting because if you get around the greens, and were making your putts you'd play well."
Gaube's 75 on Monday, combined with his 72 from Sunday gave him 147 for the tournament, four better than DSU junior Carter Hilkewich and sophomore Jake Fladeland, who both finished with 151.
The trio helped the DSU men's team claim a victory with a 604 two-day total. They shot 299 on Sunday and fell just six shots to 305 on Monday. Minot State improved by 10 strokes, but came in second with a 322-312-634.
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"I think our kids did a good job staying focused, dealing with the conditions and dealing with the setup of the course," DSU coach Tim Daniel said.
DSU senior Megan Fisher closed out the tournament with an 82, falling just one shot from Sunday's 81.
"With the conditions, the way they were today, to come back with an 82 is a great effort on her part," Daniel said.
Fisher cruised to the women's individual title at 163, beating Black Hills State's Anne Langdell's 171.
"I wanted to have a good score on the back because I knew the front was going to be harder, and it was," Fisher said. "The wind was crazy."
Fisher led the DSU women to a team title. The Blue Hawks shot 352 on Sunday and 379 on Monday for a two-day total of 731. BHSU came in second at 780.
Fisher showed the least drop off of DSU's women's players, while Fladeland and sophomore Terry Poulsen were the only Blue Hawk men to improve their scores.
They each dropped a stroke off Sunday's score.
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"We saw the scores obviously went up today, but I think we just came in and played pretty solid, especially on the men's side," Daniel said.
Gaube, Hilkewich and Fladeland finished first, second and third, respectively, while Poulsen rounded out the team score at sixth place and freshman Thomas Weilke finished with a 77-81-158 for seventh place.
"The team played pretty solid," Hilkewich said. "We didn't have any high scores that hurt us a lot."
Gaube said beginning the day on the wide-open top nine was difficult, especially before temperatures began to climb around noon.
"This wind is nuts, it's crazy," Gaube said. "This top nine, without any trees or cover, it was survival of the fittest. It was like an iron-man competition out there today."
