DUPONT, Wash. – Coming off his first collegiate win on Tuesday, Montana State University Billings senior Dawson Strobel kept the momentum going with a second-place finish on Saturday at The Home Course in the final round of the Saint Martin's University Invitational.
 
Strobel started his week with a career-best round of 68 at the South Dakota Mines Hardrocker Invitational on Tuesday, before bettering the mark with a 6-under-par 66 on Friday in the opening round of the SMU Invitational. Strobel followed with a 1-over-par 73 on Saturday, settling for a tie for second among a field of 77 players and missing out on the title by a single stroke.
 
"Coming off a win was pretty big in gaining some momentum," said Strobel. "I was sticking a ton of wedge shots inside 10 feet and kicking in the birdie putts. My swing overall was feeling very comfortable and the putting stroke felt very good. I just could not get a single putt to fall today, and finish with a bogey which threw me out of the lead."
 
Simon Fraser University's Aidan Goodfellow birdied the 18th hole to dramatically break a three-way tie between himself, Strobel, and Western Washington University's Ryan Ho. Strobel had just five bogeys among his 36-hole tournament, which he offset by tying for the tournament high with 10 birdies. Seven of those came during his red-hot start on Friday, where he shot 33 on the front-nine and 33 on the back-nine to leap to the top of the leaderboard on the par-72, 6,986-yard course.
 
Strobel birdied his first hole on Saturday, and although he wasn't quite as sharp as Friday's career performance he still managed to finish the tournament at 5-under-par 139 which was one stroke off his personal best of 138 set on Tuesday in South Dakota.
 
Strobel's big performance helped the Yellowjacket men to a sixth-place finish among the field of 14 teams at the event, and MSUB finished third among the five Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams competing with a two-round score of 588 (295-293). Simon Fraser won the team title with a score of 569 (287-282), holding off second-place Western Washington by two strokes.
 
Paul O'Neil and Carson Garner tied for 29th place, each shooting a two-round total of 149 at the tournament. O'Neil improved by five strokes between rounds, and was remarkably consistent with just one bogey and one birdie on his way to an even-par 72 on Saturday. Garner meanwhile also showed improvement going from a 75 on Friday to a 74 on Saturday, while logging five birdies and nothing worse than a bogey throughout the event.
 
Junior Blake Finn finished in a tie for 37th place, posting a two-round score of 151 (77-74). Finn improved by three strokes between rounds, finishing with four birdies on Saturday on his way to a 2-over-par 74.
 
Freshman Jarek Shepherd also competed for the Yellowjackets, taking 76th place with a two-round total of 172 (85-87). Shepherd's lone birdie at the tournament came on the par-4, 330-yard 11th hole in Round 1 on Friday.
 
THE BUZZ: Strobel was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…he was two-strokes off the MSUB single-round record of 64, held jointly by Gage Huft and Eric Gravbrot who each achieved the feat during the 2013-14 season…Strobel's 66 was the lowest round by a Yellowjacket men's golfer since Austin Walter shot a 65 on Oct. 2, 2016 at the Battlin' Bear Invitational…Strobel's two-round total of 139 was tied for the second-lowest in MSUB history, matching a mark set by Jake Hedge on March 30-31, 2015…Huft holds the all-time two-round tournament record, shooting a 135 on Oct. 15-16, 2012.
 
NEXT WEEK: The Yellowjacket men will compete in both the Western Washington Invitational, in Bellingham, Wash., on Sept. 26-27, and the Beartooth Invitational in Laurel, Mont. Live coverage for the tournaments will be available online here.
 
Saint Martin's Invitational
Final Results – September 24, 2022
The Home Course – DuPont, Washington
Team – 1. Simon Fraser, 569 (287-282); 6. MSU Billings, 588 (295-293). Individuals – 1. Aidan Goodfellow, Simon Fraser, 138 (68-70); T2. Dawson Strobel, MSUB, 139 (66-73); T29. Paul O'Neil, MSUB, 149 (77-72); T29. Carson Garner, MSUB, 149 (75-74); T37. Blake Finn, MSUB, 151 (77-74); 76. Jarek Shepherd, MSUB, 172 (85-87).