In his first year playing college golf on a team playing in its first season, Jeff Shermoen will be playing for a national championship.
Shermoen, a 2011 International Falls High School graduate, is part of the Bellevue University men’s golf team that has qualified for the NAIA Men’s Golf National Championships to be held May 22-25 at the Creekside Country Club in Salem, Ore.
The Bruins this week won the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference team title at the Eagle Bend Golf Course in Lawrence, Kan., to advance to the national tournament.
Shermoen, one of five Bellevue golfers to play in the 54-hole conference tournament involving six teams, placed fifth individually after having three rounds of 75 for an overall score of 225.
With the top-four players’ scores for each round counting toward the team total, Bellevue finished with a 54-hole total of 879 (293-287-299), out-pacing second place Central Baptist College by 27 strokes.
“All five of us played really well,” Shermoen said.
Two other Bruin players besides Shermoen finished in the top five.
Freshman Javier Franco led Bellevue with a second-place overall finish, shooting a 1-under par total of 215. Junior John Matthews placed third with a 2-over 218.
Though Central Baptist had the top golfer in Justin Burns — who was the tournament’s medalist with a 5-under total of 211 — and had been favored in the MCAC, Shermoen said winning the conference title was the Bruins’ first tournament victory this season.
“We were definitely the underdogs,” he said.
In the 11 tournaments and 24 rounds of golf that he has played for Bellevue this season, Shermoen has an 18-hole average of 76.79.
Shermoen noted that Bellevue, which is located in Nebraska, has recruited players from around the world, such as in Columbia and South Africa as well as the United States and Canada, to field a men’s golf team.
“It’s just been a really good experience,” he said.
Shermoen, who is a freshman majoring in business administration at Bellevue, had qualified individually during his senior year in high school for the Class AA state golf tournament.
