What characteristics make up a champion? Talent, work ethic, dedication and determination are some of the most repeated words, but Lynn golf knows that the ability to positively face adversity is the most important.
In 2020, the Lynn University men’s and women’s golf teams were riding high. The women were coming off a 2019 Sunshine State Conference (SSC) championship, and the men who already had two consecutive national titles were playing some of the best golf in their careers. Then COVID-19 hit. Suddenly, successfully defending their titles became less of a worry. They wondered if they would get to play at all.
Soon the season was canceled and as the 2020 school year approached, the SSC canceled fall sports, too. Winter sports quickly followed. And, just as the fate of spring sports began to look dismal, the SSC announced spring sports were on!
Having a season was an accomplishment within itself, but that wasn’t enough for the Fighting Knights men’s and women’s golf teams.
In April 2021, they both headed to the conference
championship. The men, led by SSC individual champion Agustin Errazuriz,
won by seven strokes over Nova Southeastern University. The Fighting Knights
led from the end of the first round all the way until the end of the
tournament. It was their fifth SSC title, tied for the second-most of any
school in the conference. Errazuriz finished at -4 for the tournament and
defeated runner-up Aadam Syed by two strokes.
The women ended the first round in third place, sitting behind both University of Tampa and Palm Beach Atlantic University. But, as the tournament progressed, the Fighting Knights got stronger. In the second round, the five golfers shot a combined score of 298, the second-lowest round of the entire tournament and pulled even with Tampa. Then in the final round, they outshot the Spartans by three strokes to capture their second title in two years and third overall.
Helen Kreuzer won the individual title with a three-round score of 214. She was the only golfer in the tournament to shoot under par. Kreuzer went on to claim the NCAA title, with a 54-hole score of 210 and a final round score of 68—the lowest one-round score in the tournament.
Looking ahead to the 2022 spring season, both teams are focused on defending their titles.
An SSC preseason coaches poll projected Lynn golf to win the conference title again. But every golfer knows that polls aren’t where championships are won. They’re won on the course in the spring, and the Fighting Knights are ready for it.
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