Will Overlander March 27, 2009

Freshman Overlander pulls off surprising win

ALTOONA—Left off the Central College men’s golf team’s top units and in the field as an at-large individual entry, freshman Will Overlander (Argyle, Texas) found a way to catch coach Charlie Estabrook’s attention, winning the weather-shortened Central Invitational Friday at the Copper Creek Golf Course in Altoona.

Originally scheduled as a 36-hole tournament, the meet was halted after Friday’s round because of bad weather anticipated for Saturday.

Overlander was part of a three-way tie for the top spot, firing a 4-over-par 76 in frosty conditions, then won the tiebreaker on the basis of a birdie on the No. 1 handicap hole.

“It was a great day for Will,” Estabrook said. “He came in last fall struggling with his swing. But he worked on it a lot over the winter when he went home to Texas and worked on it some more over spring break. He obviously found his swing today. I was proud of him.”

Junior Justin Smool (Bagley, Panorama HS) was a shot back of Overlander for the Red squad with 77.

It wasn’t a memorable day for the Dutch, however, who settled for second place in an eight-team field. Augsburg College (Minn.) pulled out a 2-stroke victory with 313. Central’s top unit, the Red team, was next with 315, followed by the Central White squad at 323, Coe College at 327, Grinnell College at 330, Central Black at 337, the Grinnell JV at 353 and the Central Gray team at 370.

“We have no excuses, we just didn’t play well,” Estabrook said. “It was cold but everybody had to play in it. We had some holes where we didn’t hit driver because we were trying to play it safe and we still hit balls out of bounds and that cost us. You can’t give away that many strokes.”

Matt Stock (junior, Queen City, Mo., Schuyler County HS) tied for fifth for the Central Red team with 78, Andy Petersen (senior, Davenport, West HS) tied for eighth at 79 and Andrew Townsend (junior, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) and Jason Harvey (sophomore, Goldfield, Clarion-Goldfield HS) each tied for 11th with 81.

Reid Petersen (senior, Ankeny) tied for fifth at 78 to lead the Central White team while Brent Messmore (freshman, Hudson) had 81. Brent Goodenow (freshman, Johnston) paced the Central Black squad with 83 and Max Miller (sophomore, Independence) shot 86 to top the Central Gray unit.

Because Saturday’s round was cancelled, Estabrook said the Dutch will likely add the Simpson Invitational to the meet schedule. The tourney date hasn’t been finalized but the meet will be played at the Indianola Country Club, which will serve as the site for the final 36 holes of the Iowa Conference tournament May 1-2.

Central travels to Normal, Ill. for the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational Friday and Saturday at the par-72 Ironwood Golf Course. The tourney starts at 1 p.m. Friday with tee times beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. Tourney host Illinois Wesleyan is rated No. 5 in the NCAA Division III.