COEUR d'ALENE, Idaho – The Saint Martin's men's golf team just missed out on a podium finish at the GNAC Championships at Coeur d'Alene Resort Course on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Saints were just two strokes back of a third-place finish with NNU finishing just above them. Max Turnquist was the top finisher for Saint Martin's, finishing sixth, while Mason Bratcher was right behind him with an eighth-place finish.
 
WATCH THE 2023 GNAC GOLF PREVIEW WITH HEAD COACH ZACH DIETZ HERE
 
WATCH THE 2023 GNAC GOLF PREVIEW WITH MAX TURNQUIST AND JORDAN TERADA HERE
 
The story for Turnquist was one of a monumental comeback in his final GNAC championships. Round one had basically everything go wrong for the senior as he bogeyed seven times and had three double bogeys as well. When the dust settled on round one, Turnquist was sitting in 23^rd place with a lot of ground to make up. In round two, Turnquist looked like a golfer reborn. The veteran tallied four birdies and shot the second-best round two out of everybody at the tourney. On Wednesday, he continued his hot streak and improved his round two score by one stroke, having the third best round three of any men's golfer. Turnquist finished in sixth, but his second and third round was the second best in those rounds out of all GNAC golfers.
 
"Max battled some adversity to start the day, but then still had a solid finish after bringing it back with a couple under par rounds," said Head Coach Zach Dietz of his senior, "I was happy with the way he competed all the way until the end. He is in a great position to make the super regionals individually and we will be looking forward to that event."
 
Bratcher was one of the most consistent golfers in the tournament shooting a 74, a 75, and a 74 in his three rounds. Out of all the freshman in the tournament, Brathcher finished the highest, sitting in eighth place once the dust settled. "Mason Bratcher was steady the entire tournament and I was glad to see him play well. He is certainly my vote for GNAC freshman of the year," remarked Dietz.
 
The Saints shot the third best first round of all squads but lost some momentum down the back nine. "Everyone was ready to go and focused, we just needed to finish those last four holes better in round one to keep some momentum going for the second round," said Dietz. Despite shooting under 300 the final two rounds, NNU was just able to pass up the Saints to take third place and push the Saints to fourth.
 
Jordan Terada finished 19^th in his final competition as a Saints, while Kyle Erwin also cracked the top 20 and Mason Rohleder rounded out the SMU lineup.