HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – The Gustavus Adolphus College men's golf team competed in the NCAA Division III Fall Preview this week at the Mission Inn Resort. After placing eighth on day one and moving up to seventh after day two, the Gusties finished +10 to place sixth out of the field of 24 of the best DIII golf teams in the nation on Tuesday. Emory won the national preview at +2, finishing just eight strokes ahead of Gustavus at the three-round tournament.
 
"The men's program has accomplished some special outcomes this fall," said Gustavus assistant coach Randall Stuckey, "including Jimmy Abdo's U.S. Amateur run, Chris Gutuza shooting a nine under par round, and a fantastic team win at the Minnesota Golf Classic firing 14 under par as a team in the second round. I challenged our guys to do something special as a team and for the program. They did something very special with patience, confidence, and grit. El Campion is a course you have to think about every shot and is physically and mentally challenging. Placing sixth against some of the highest ranked teams in the country is a great effort. Sets up for an interesting MIAC Championship this weekend."
 
Abdo led the Gusties at the tournament, shooting -3 to place eighth overall out of the field of 120 golfers. Gutuza followed at +1 for the three-day tournament, tying for 18^th overall. Wyatt Carlson tied for 22^nd overall after shooting +3 at the preview. Blake Forrest finished +9 to tie for 55^th overall. Sam LaFrenz shot +14 to tie for 86^th overall.
 
"Today we played our best round the tournament as a team," said Carlson. "We stayed patient throughout the round and made a lot of birdies coming down the stretch."
 
Up next for the Gusties is the three-day MIAC Championship starting this Saturday, September 27 and running until Monday.