Boulder City, NV. – After 18 holes of the 2026 NCAA DII Men's Golf National Championship, Head Coach Thadd Obecny decided to use his sub in the #4 spot in the lineup. It turned out to be a strong move by the Cardinal head coach, as the Cardinals shot 307 (+19) headlined by a trio of Cardinals. Three different players shot 75 (+3) on the day as the Cardinals hold their 19th spot heading into the final round of competition.
Leading the effort was the Cardinal sub Luke Wennberg, who made his National Championship debut. He would shoot 75 (+3) to tie for the team lead and put himself in a tie for 106th in the field. He would tee off with the second group of the day and, after bogeying the first hole, he would balance it out with his first birdie on hole 2. He would hit par four more times over the front nine's final seven holes, but added three more strokes to his score as he hit the turn. Wennberg would find his turning point on hole 13 as his score sat at +5. He would pick up his second birdie of the day to drop his score, and would find his groove over the finall six holes. He would add one more birdie before all was said and done and wrapped up with a par on 18 to finish +3 for the round. It was Wennberg's first round of National Championship competition and he not only subbed in but played his part.
The other two Cardinals to hit the 75 (+3) mark were Sean Dobson and Zak Collins. Collins would lead the way with a big comeback throughout the round. After going up +3 after the first hole, he would battle to not let things get out of hand. He immediately got two of those strokes back with back-to-back birdies on two and three, but those two strokes came back on hole six. He was sitting at +4 heading to the back nine, but kicked it into high gear on the back nine. He picked up his team leading third birdie of the day on hole 13, and would par the other eight back nine holes. He shot -1 for the back nine and rounded out with +3 on the day. Sean Dobson would round out the +3 trio, powered by a strong front nine. He would hit birdie on the first hole of the day, and hit two on the front nine in total. He hit the turn at +1, and went to even par with a birdie on hole 11. He would battle the rest of the way, adding three strokes over the final seven holes to finish at +3.
The final two golfers for the Cardinals were Elias Ekenes-Fosback and Lodin Femoen, who finished at 82 and 85 respectively. Ekenes-Fosback would get out to the hottest start of any Caridnal, birdieing on back-to-back birdies on holes one and two. It was part of a strong front nine, where he shot +2, and was among the team leader. However, he would have to battle on the back nine, with his high mark coming on his third birdie on hole 16 to finish out the round. Lodin Femoen was the final golfer for the Cardinals, finishing with an 85 (+13) to round out the day. He would start strong, sitting at -1 through four holes thanks to a birdie on two, and he would finish with two more back nine pars to round out the day.
The Wheeling Men's Golf team returns for round three of the NCAA DII National Championships, Wednesday, May 20th with tee times to be announced.
