WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Gustavus men's golf team proved just why it's ranked No. 24 in the nation in the latest GCAA NCAA Division III poll over the weekend, taking first in a talented field at the Williams Invitational, hosted at the prestigious Taconic Country Club. The Gusties shot a two-round 303-287-590, moving up from their second place finish through round one.

Chris Gutuza (Jr., Johannesburg, South Africa) was the highlight of the weekend, finishing the first as the individual champion, moving up four spots with a second round 68, three-under par, to win the tournament. He had only one hole that he didn't card even or a birdie through round two. It's the second year in a row the Gusties have claimed the individual championship at the tournament, and the win was Gutuza's first collegiate tournament victory. 

"The team played pretty average on the first round, started the second day in fourth place, three off the lead - I played a fairly average round," commented champion Gutuza. "On day two we fired +3 as a team, winning the second round by 12 and the entire tournament by nine. Solid performance from the team.

"I played a solid second round. I started the round one shot back and the putter was cold the first 15 holes, but I played well enough to stay at most two shots back. Then the leader made a mistake on 16, and I made birdie to take a two-shot lead. Finished up with a par and a birdie to finish the tournament at one-under, to win by four. The quote of the tournament was: 'The leaderboard told a story. One guy in red numbers, the rest of the field in black.'"

Teddy Kaste (Sr., Apple Valley) wasn't far behind his teammate, finishing fourth overall with a second round 72. Kaste carded a pair of birdies and shot even through all but two holes. Kaste moved up 10 spots on Sunday, finishing the weekend with a 75-72-147 (five-over). 

For the rest of the Gusties, Pelayo Perez Crespo (Jr., Sotogrande, Spain) climbed the leaderboard 31 spots on Sunday to tie for eighth. He finished shooting a 78-71-149 with a trio of birdies through round two. Jack Reinardy (Sr., Andover) carded a pair of birdies on day two for a 76 to finish 24th, while first-year Jimmy Abdo (Edina) picked up two birdies for 54th overall with a two-round 157.

"What a great weekend of effort by the guys to claim the team championship and the individual championship by Chris Gutuza," said Assistant Coach Randall Stuckey '83. "We followed our game plan of putting ourselves in a position to when the second day our commitment to shots and making good decisions helped our score today. We beat a lot of schools, which should give us some confidence going into next weekend at our Twin Cities Classic, followed by our conference tournament in two weeks.

"Chris carved up the course today moving the ball in different directions to get him to score so well. What a great effort on his part for the individual champion. He has worked so hard and nice to see him finally rewarded."

The Gusties are back in action Saturday, hosting the Twin Cities Classic at Elk River Golf Club, Links at Northfork, and Le Sueur Country Club.