Men's Golf Shows Improvement With Solid Final Round
9/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
SEASIDE, Calif. - Gonzaga University's men's golf team got back on track at the Saint Mary's Invitational Tuesday, shooting a final-round 301 for a 54-hole score of 937.
But after digging themselves a deep hole Monday it wasn't enough to escape last place in the 15-team field.
The Bulldogs didn't have any fudge factor Tuesday as it was discovered prior to the teams teeing off Tuesday morning that James Fahy had signed an incorrect scorecard for Monday's opening round and was disqualified.
"When we got up this morning James noticed his score was incorrect on Golfstat so he checked his hole-by-hole scores," Gray said. "It turned out he had signed for a lower score on the fifth hole. He made 5 rather than 4 so he ended up being disqualified for the first round. Nobody wants to be disqualified, so it says a lot about his character to bring it to my attention."
Although allowed to play the final round, his score could not be factored into the final team score for the day, leaving the Bulldogs with only four players in the line-up and all four scores had to be counted.
Peter Gullickson, who posted two of the Zags four sub-80 scores Monday with back-to-back rounds of 76, came back with another solid round of 75 to give him a 54-hole score of 227 and a tie for 33rd. Travis Johnsen matched Gullickson's 75 and finished tied for 58th at 235. Johnsen's second-round score from Monday was also revised from an 80 to a 79, giving him rounds of 81-79-75.
Brendan Connolly shot a 79 Tuesday to finish at 237 and Erik Krzyzanowski came in with a 78 for a 54-hole score of 246. Oliver Grabb, playing as an individual, shot a 78 Tuesday to finish at 250.
Fahy had the best round of the tournament for the Bulldogs with a 73 Tuesday.
"Today we played closer to the way we should. Even though we lost some shots on the final four holes, we ended up with the sixth best team score of the day. We needed a decent round today on a hard course like Bayonet to show the guys they could post a good team s core on that kind of test," Gray said.
The University of Oregon, which held a 9-stroke leading entering Tuesday's final round, easily won the tournament with an 853 for a 13-stroke advantage over the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Host Saint Mary's was third another 15 stroke back.
Medalist honors went to Chris Russo of Cal State Northridge who had a final-round 70 to go with opening-day rounds of 68-69 for a 54-hole total of 9-under par 207 and a 2-shot win over Rak Cho of Oregon who had rounds of 74-68-67.
The tournament's first and third rounds were played on the 7,117-yard, par 72 Bayonet Golf Course, with the second round Monday held on the 7,024-yard, par 72 Blackhorse Golf Course.
The Bulldogs will be back in action next Monday and Tuesday at the Kikkor Husky Invitational at the Gold Mountain Golf Club - Olympic Course in Bremerton, Wash.
