After an ordinary start in round 1, Carsen Theis caught fire over his final three rounds to earn medalist honors at this year's St. Ambrose golf qualifying tournament. The junior from Grimes, Iowa, began the event with a 75 (+3), but then found his best form, going 14-under over his final three rounds (66-69-67) to finish at 277, and a four-round total of minus-11. His margin of victory was eight strokes over runner-up Griffin Smits. Theis turned in one of the finest qualifying tournament performances in many years.

He followed an accurate driver with precision iron play, and he parlayed that into countless birdie opportunities over the four days.

"My driver was really good, and my wedges were really good," explained Theis. Those comments were obvious, as he parlayed his short clubs into countless birdie opportunities. During his final 54 holes, he accumulated 15 birdies, with just a single bogey on his scorecard over his final three rounds. When he did find trouble around the green, his scrambling was spot on as well, and that highlighted his bogey avoidance. His round 2 score of 66 was the lowest score of the tournament, and it was also his career-best effort in tournament play.

Last season, Theis finished sixth in qualifying with a four-round total of 303, and his winning score this year was a whopping 26 strokes better than last season. That garnered him the Most Improved Golfer Award as well. In May, Theis narrowly missed qualifying for the final round of the NAIA national championship, falling a single stroke out of the cut.

Runner-up Griffin Smits turned in an admirable score (-3), and was right in the thick of things, but he – as well as everyone else – fell victim to Theis' onslaught of birdies over the final three rounds. Jacob Stoetzel, Vinny Messana and Hayden Lee rounded out the top five at the event. Stoetzel also finished third in last season's qualifying event, while Messana and Lee showed significant improvement over last season. Messana moved from 11th to fourth, and Lee improved from 14th to fifth.

A total of 27 golfers completed all four rounds of the event, with the top 20 and ties advancing to the official travel team. Varsity spots for the opening event went to the top five finishers. It took a score of 298 for four rounds to earn the fifth spot, while a score of 329 was good enough to earn the final spot on the 2025-26 travel roster.

The award for low freshman qualifier went to Luke Purcell, who came in at 301 (+13) for his four rounds.

Overall, there were five rounds in the 60s at the event, with eight rounds under par, and 11 total rounds of par or better during this year's event.

St. Ambrose's home course is once again Emeis. For more than 60 years, Emeis has been the Fighting Bees home course. Despite two inches of rain the night before round 1, and two more inches of rain immediately prior to round 3, the staff had Emeis in fantastic condition. Head Professional Ron Thrapp is an SAU alum, and he was a member of the golf program as well. He remains a longtime supporter of youth, collegiate and amateur golf championship play in the Quad Cities, and he has been a tremendous asset to St. Ambrose golf.

Head Coach Jeff Griebel enters his 44th season at the helm of the St. Ambrose program. The team comes off its first conference championship since 2009, and the Bees look to springboard off that success in 2025-26, although three of the program's top five players graduated in 2025. A total of 13 players return from last season, with 14 freshmen and transfers joining the Bee tradition.

The top 20 players will begin the season on Aug. 31-Sept. 1 at the Highland Championship, hosted by Augustana at Highland Springs in Rock Island, Ill. Those two rounds will be added to each golfer's four-round total, for a six-round aggregate total to determine the 10 players who will play in the next event on Sept. 14-15 at the Meadows Golf Course in Asbury, Iowa.

Final Standings
2025 St. Ambrose Qualifying Tournament

1. Carsen Theis 75-66-69-67=277
2. Griffin Smits 73-69-71-72=285
3. Jacob Stoetzel 73-69-73-73=288
4. Vinny Messana 71-71-74-78=294
5. Hayden Lee 76-75-75-72=298
6. Luke Purcell 78-75-73-75=301
7. Ben King 76-77-74-75=302
8. Jacob Lange 78-78-72-75=303
9. Zach Priami 76-74-78-76=304
10. Mason Steinert 80-69-78-78=305
10. Brody Miguel 75-78-77-75=305
10. Keegan Renz 74-80-75-76=305
13. Grant Plym 82-78-76-77=313
14. Luke Frazier 76-84-79-76=315
15. Nathan Newman 78-84-79-77=318
16. Carson Horner 79-78-83-80=321
17. Evan White 85-81-80-80=326
17. Major Chisholm 84-80-80-82=326
19. Quinn Ossowski 82-77-83-85=327
20. Cooper Spears 87-81-78-83=329
21. Quinn Bell 86-84-85-89=344
21. AJ Vittorini 87-87-83-87=344
23. Ricky Martin 86-86-88-85=345
24. AJ Siebers 89-86-88-91=354
25. Jackson Hofer 91-86-90-88=355
26. Landon Wheatley 93-98-86-96=373
27. Jackson Coppinger 91-91-98-102=382