By Tim Heiduk, Assistant Athletic Director, Events and Communications

Jack Dudeck needed a playoff hole to win the The Master’s University Spring Invite a year ago. This time around, he ensured there wouldn’t be one.

The senior birdied the 18th hole to win the TMU Spring Invite by a single stroke, claiming the individual title at the tournament for the second-straight year at Crystalaire Country Club.

“It gave me a lot of confidence knowing I had played well here before,” Dudeck said. “I was feeling ready. My game has been trending for a while now, so it’s good to finally put it all together.”

Master’s Head Coach Jacob Hicks added: “Jack was super steady and he competed like a champ. He’s got grit.”

After shooting a four-under 68 during the first round held Monday, April 4, Dudeck entered the second and final round on Tuesday, April 5, one stroked behind the leader.

“Just maintain and stick to my process, knowing that what I’m doing is going to work,” Dudeck said of his mentality going into the final round. “Something I was reminded of from last year that coach told me before the playoff, was ‘God already knows who’s going to win, so just go out there, stick to what you know how to do. Whatever happens is going to happen.'”

Dudeck went atop the leaderboard during the second round, but after bogeying holes 16 and 17 and a birdie on 17 from his closest competitor, Dudeck dropped back into a tie for the lead approaching the tee box of the par-five 18th tee box.

Despite the late swing in momentum, TMU’s number one player remained confident because of his biggest asset. his driver.

“I knew that I had a noticeable distance advantage against them the entire day and I knew that with the adrenaline, I was going to hit it plenty far enough,” Dudeck said. “I knew I was going to have a shorter club in and it was downwind, so it all kind of played into my advantage. Driver is my weapon in the bag, so I just got up there and tried to keep it a little left of the big tree on the right.”

After a long drive, the reigning Golden State Athletic Conference champion put his second shot onto the green, only needing a two-putt for birdie.

He put his initial 15-footer within a few feet of the hole and once Benedictine Mesa’s top player missed a putt from a similar distance for birdie, Dudeck knew he just had to tap-in to clinch another victory.

“The big thing that helped me there was I just had to two-putt for birdie and he had to get up-and-down from short of the bunker,” Dudeck said. “I knew that put a lot of pressure on him, knowing that I’m most likely not going to three-putt that and he’s going to have to make birdie to force a playoff. That definitely calmed me down a bit and I just lagged the putt up there. You try to make the eagle putt, but two putts for birdie at least keeps me in it.”

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