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Home > Bison Media Zone > Skarperud, Bison golfers making most of Arizona experience
Podcast: Bison Media Zone
Episode:

Skarperud, Bison golfers making most of Arizona experience
Category: Sports & Recreation
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2024-03-04 13:30:00
Description: FARGO If North Dakota State’s first men’s golf tournament of the spring season was considered spring training, the Bison looked in mid-season form. NDSU torched the field last week at the Loyola Intercollegiate event in Goodyear, Arizona.

The Bison not only broke the school record for 54 holes, they beat it by 14 shots. Whatever they did in offseason training, the results were obvious.



“We’ve all been putting in the work,” said sophomore Jake Skarperud. “Obviously it’s shown and it truly improved us. I think it’s a combination of, one, our team is super close and, two, we all use that competitiveness that we all have because we’re all so close. We use that to our advantage and we push each other past our limits.”



The players are getting plenty of bonding time these days. The Loyola tournament ended last Tuesday. Instead of flying back to Fargo, the team is taking advantage of spring break and remained in the Phoenix area staying with friends or family to take advantage of the Arizona golf weather.



Skarperud, for instance, is staying with his older brother and cousin at their apartment complex. The Bison will fly to Oregon later this week for the Bandon Dunes Championship in Bandon, Oregon, a tournament hosted by the University of Idaho.



The Bandon Dunes complex along the Pacific Ocean is one of the more reputable golf tracks in the country.



“Yeah, we’re all super excited,” Skarperud said.



North Dakota’s 2022 Mr. Golf winner at Fargo Shanley was in and out of the lineup last year as a freshman, but shot 65-71-66 last week to claim the individual title by two shots over teammate Nate Adams. Skarperud has put on 20 pounds since high school.



“I just have longer shots that I can use to my advantage,” he said.



The Loyola tournament was Skarperud’s first medalist honors as a college player. He led the team onslaught, breaking the school 54-hole individual scoring record of minus-13 by Nate Deziel by one shot. Deziel’s record was set in the 2022 Summit League tournament.



NDSU’s 40-under team total at Palm Valley Golf Club bested the previous school mark of 26-under set at the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate in Powells Point, North Carolina, in 2019. Northern Colorado and Loyola Marymound (California) were each six shots off the pace.



“The course itself wasn’t extremely difficult but it for sure had its parts like any course where it was,” Skarperud said. “The greens were very firm and bouncy, almost like a trampoline. To get to the front pins, it was tough. It was your typical Arizona course. It has its fairway, a little bit of rough but not much and then desert. If you’re in the desert, it wasn’t terrible but it also wasn’t fun.”



The weight training benefitted Skarperud in driving distance, which in turn tends to help the other facets of golf like shorter approach shots and fewer long putts. Also, chalk one up for the new NDSU indoor facility, a football complex where other sports like golf are taking advantage.



“We practice with our team every day for a couple of hours,” Skarperud said. “And then every single guy is in there later in the day for more hours working on things.


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