Bermel Shoots 68; UNI Comes Back to Win

Courtesy: UNI Athletics Communications

Release: Tuesday 04/14/2015

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. -- The University of Northern Iowa men's golf team came
from five strokes back to win the Oral Roberts University Shootout on Tuesday.
Entering the day in fifth place after shooting a team score of 316, the Panthers had
an absurd 32-stroke turnaround, shooting 284 to take the championship.
UNI got a strong round from top to bottom, with all five guys placing in the top 35,
and two top 10 finishes from Jacob Bermel and Glenn Walls. The Panthers defeated
second-place Missouri State by three strokes. The host squad, Oral Roberts, finished
in third place and was 12 strokes back.
It's the first meet championship for the UNI men's golf team since Sept. 25, 2006,
when it won the DePaul Invitational at the Prairie Landing Golf Club in West Chicago,
Ill.
Jacob Bermel led the Panthers, finishing in seventh place after shooting a two round
score of 149. After an 81 in the first round, Bermel followed with a career-high fourunder par 68 in the second round, which was also the lowest score of the
tournament. The seventh place finish was also a career high for Bermel. His
previous high was a ninth place at the Jackrabbit Invitational last season.

During the weekend, Bermel tied for first in par 3 scoring, shooting a total of -1 and
averaging 2.88 strokes per hole. He was also second with six birdies on the
weekend, behind Missouri State's Joey Johnson.
Glenn Walls finished in a tie for eighth place, entering the clubhouse with a two
round score of 150. Walls shot a two-under par 70 in the second round after
shooting an 80 in the first. Similar to Bermel, Walls played well on the par 3's,
shooting one-over par with an average of 3.13 strokes per hole, and had five birdies
in the tournament.
It's the third top ten finish of the season for Walls, which matches the most top ten
finishes in a season by one player since Kyle Beversdorf had three in the 2010-2011
season. Walls has either led or been second on the team in scoring in nine of ten
meets this season.
Finishing third on the team was Kyle Driscoll. Driscoll tied for 11th place after
shooting a two round score of 151 (78-73). Driscoll was fourth in par-4 scoring,
making his mark with a 2-over par. He also paced the team with 24 pars throughout
the weekend.
Driscoll, who led the team at the Arkansas State Invitational last week, has been
playing extremely well as of late, shooting 9 out of his last 10 rounds below 80
strokes.
Eric Sikkema entered the final round in eighth place and led the team after shooting
a five-over 77 after a long delay. Sikkema followed with a 78 and a 25th place
finish. Both rounds were right around his season average of 77.14 strokes.
Sikkema played well on the par 5's, leading the team with a 4.88 average and
finishing at 1-under.
After shooting an 84 on the first day, Dustin Atkinson responded with a one-over 73
to finish tied for 33rd place. Atkinson, who leads the team with 22 rounds in the 70's
this season, was second on the team in pars with 23, and par-3 scoring at one-over
par. It's the second best finish of the spring for Atkinson, who finished tied for 25th
at the Butler Spring Invitational.
The Panthers are playing their best golf at the right time, with the Missouri Valley
Conference Championship coming on April 27-28 in Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.