The Blugolds men’s golf team took fifth out of 16 teams at the Bobby Krig Invitational Sunday and Monday in St. Peter, Minn. aided by a first place performance from senior Jimmy Hutchings.

Hutchings shot a tournament-best 212 strokes in three rounds of golf, giving him an overall score of even for the tournament.

Junior Tim McCormick said without Hutchings’ performance, the team definitely would have struggled in this tournament.

“(Hutchings) carried the team pretty much all weekend,” McCormick said. “Without his low scores … we very well could have been eighth or ninth when it was all said and done.”

The team played a total of three rounds and was in eighth place out of 16 teams after the first 18 holes.

First year head coach Mike Greer said that it was disappointing the team started off slow because of how well they did on the last two rounds of golf Monday.

“We played pretty well the second day actually,” Greer said. “ We were just too far behind going into our second and third rounds and we really couldn’t catch up to the leaders, which was discouraging.”

Monday, the team climbed the leaderboard three spots to finish fifth.

It was Hutchings’ first ever tournament win and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Blugolds, who are competing with other independent schools in the region to earn a bid to go to nationals.

Tournament host Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) took first, while rival UW-Stout finished third in the tournament, six strokes ahead of Eau Claire. Both teams have been ranked for much of the year. Gustavus is currently No. 19 in the country and Stout fell just outside   the top 25.

“It’s exciting being in such a good region such as the Midwest,” McCormick said. “We’re all good, we’re all battling and it’s really the survival of the fittest if you will.”

The team will compete at the St. John’s Invitational April 28-29, a tournament that will likely decide if they qualify for the national tournament in early May.

“It’s not a must win for the team,” McCormick said. “But it’s pretty dang close. I’d say we need to get as high as second or third for sure to show the committee we can compete with the best of them.”