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Golfers Finish Second In Own CU-Stevinson Invitational
March 27, 2007 | Men's Golf
STEVINSON,
No. 57 Wichita State led from wire-to-wire in winning with an 881 score, which was good for a 17-stroke win over the host Buffaloes, who closed with an 898 tally.
The weather was a challenge again Tuesday, as despite clear skies, winds gusted up to 30 miles per hour at times with temperatures in the upper 40s most of the round. Par or better proved to be a great score, and only one player did it; in the 81-man field, only 12 shot 76 or better with 37 unable to break 80. The average score Tuesday on the 7,177-yard, par-72 Stevinson Golf Club course layout for this tourney was 80.2, well above the 75.7 in the first round and 77.8 for the second.
Tolan closed with a 76, which tied for the eighth best score in the final round, giving him a 220 total which placed him sixth overall, matching his finish in the season's first tournament, the Rich Harvest Farms Intercollegiate?last September. He has been playing well as of late, as he finished 11th earlier this month in the Louisiana Classics.
“Basically, I am hitting it probably the best I've hit it in several years,” Tolan said. “But even when I hit good puts, they weren't going in. So then I let it get into my head and then had a couple of bad putts. I need to live by my own word and be patient. I'd rather have to work on correcting my putting than any other part of my game, because I think that can be the easiest to fix.
“Those last three holes, anything could have happened out there, so I figured if I could get it under par the last few holes I would have been in pretty good shape,” he said. He scored pars on Nos. 16 and 17, but bogeyed 18, but still shot even for the back nine. “Even though I had it two under early with a couple of birdies on 11 and 12, I thought that was really, really solid and I am encouraged.”
As for the rest of the team, 79s were wild. Eight Buffs played here, three individually whose scores did not count toward the CU team total; six of them shot 7-over 79s Tuesday. At first glance that appears nothing short of terrible, but there were only 29 scores posted that were actually better for the round.
As a result, the Buffaloes joined
“Overall, I am very happy with a runner-up finish,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “The conditions and the golf course were extremely difficult today, and the good thing about that is that it will help prepare us for the postseason. I am very proud of the way Derek played overall. I think he is starting to find his stride.
“We still need to get better and improve in all areas of our game, but I feel we're very close,” Edwards added. “We've been improving throughout the spring and that's all I can expect from the guys. They've worked hard, and thus we should keep improving the rest of the spring.”
“We won, so I felt we played really good,”
“This is a hard course even when it is sunny and a nice day,” he added. “It is already a tough course with a lot of awkward shots. It was too tough to play well today with the weather.”
Illinois State senior Matt Miller claimed medalist honors, as he used a second round 68 sandwiched between a pair of 73s for a 2-under 214 total, edging UC-Davis senior Louie Bishop by a single shot.
Miller, who started the day two back of
“(The weather) made playing for a low score that much harder,” he continued. “I knew it was going to affect everyone's score and my score; I just didn't let it affect my mind or my game. I just played what the weather and the course allowed.”
Miller never knew for certain he was in the lead. “It was so crazy out there, it was like a circus,” he noted. “When I had three holes to go, I knew that I had a shot. So I knew that I still had to take care of my business because you never really know. But I had a feeling that I needed to take advantage of the last three holes.” He finished up on the front side, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
The Buffaloes return to action next week and will try to turn the tables on the Shockers, as they will travel to
(*?playing individually; scores do not count toward team total)
6. Derek Tolan................................ 74-70-76?220
T15. Blake Moore................................ 71-75-79?225
T20. Patrick Grady.............................. 72-75-79?226
T23. Ryan Anderson.......................... 74-74-79?227
T45. Michael Baird............................. 74-82-79?235
T57. *Jim Grady................................. 80-80-79?239
T57. *Luke Symons............................ 79-81-79?239
T62. *Tom Gempel............................. 72-87-81?240
1.
2. Louie Bishop, UC-Davis............. 67-75-73?215
3. Cameron Bishop,
3. Dustin Garza,
5. Brad Wright,
1.
2.
3.
3.
3.
3. UC-Davis................................. 289-309-312?910
7.
8. UC-Santa Barbara.................. 294-304-317?915
9.
10.
11. UMKC...................................... 299-300-326?925
12. Drake....................................... 299-307-322?928
13. Air Force................................. 304-312-323?939
14. CSU-Stanislaus....................... 302-321-321?944
15. Hawai'i-Hilo............................ 316-318-331?965
