WCU Men’s Golf Finishes Fifth, Matt Cook Sixth at UK Bluegrass Invitational
Lexington, Ky. ? First-round leader, Western Carolina, slipped into fifth place over the final two rounds on Monday at the UK Bluegrass Invitational contested at the par 71, 7,013-yard University Club. The Catamounts were led by senior Matt Cook, who advanced three positions over the final 36-holes to place tied for sixth.
Central Florida, which was one-stroke back of WCU after Sunday’s opening round, carded 899 to claim the team title by 16 strokes over Missouri and Murray State which finished tied for second with three-day totals of 315. The host Kentucky Wildcats finished fourth, three strokes ahead of fifth-place Catamounts.
Brent Long from Western Kentucky and Brian Belden from Kentucky, who was playing as an individual, finished tied atop the leader board with Long claiming the championship on the first hole of a playoff. The two finished with a 54-hole total of six-over, 219.
Cook carded three rounds of 75 to move from ninth-place to sixth in the final standings to pace the squad. Junior Andres Cuenca and freshman Caleb Marsh finished tied for 24th, with Cuenca posting the team’s lowest round with a two-over, 73, on the final 18 holes.
Rounding out WCU’s finishers were junior Dustin Furnari in a tie for 53rd (236) and sophomore Ricky Stout (t-61st, 238).
Western Carolina now sets its sights on the 2008 Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship coming up April 19-21 at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence, S.C. The Catamounts finished second earlier this season at the Raines Development Group Intercollegiate, hosted by Francis Marion, at the same venue with a three-round, 878, just one stroke off the team champion.
Last year, WCU finished in sixth place with Cook coming home tied for fourth, later garnering an at-large individual bid to the NCAA tournament.
Fans will be able to follow all of the action from the 2008 SoCon Championship with live scoring by visiting www.GolfStat.com.
UK Bluegrass Invitational ? Final Results
1 Central Florida 306 290 303 899 +47
T2 Missouri 315 287 313 915 +63
T2 Murray State 311 297 307 915 +63
4 Kentucky 307 308 301 916 +64
5 Western Carolina 305 304 310 919 +67
6 Miami (Ohio) 310 301 309 920 +68
7 Eastern Kentucky 311 299 312 922 +70
8 Toledo 306 310 307 923 +71
9 Western Kentucky 312 310 302 924 +72
10 Akron 328 300 307 935 +83
11 Ball State 320 305 314 939 +87
12 Austin Peay State 326 308 306 940 +88
13 Cincinnati 319 319 304 942 +90
14 Dayton 322 317 309 948 +96
15 Ohio University 329 315 309 953 +101
16 Samford 316 327 315 958 +106
17 Morehead State 348 322 311 981 +129
5 Western Carolina 305 304 310 919 +67
T 6 Matt Cook 75 75 75 225 +12
T24 Andres Cuenca 77 81 73 231 +18
T24 Caleb Marsh 77 74 80 231 +18
T53 Dustin Furnari 76 78 82 236 +23
T61 Ricky Stout 79 77 82 238 +25
UNCG tied for eighth after two rounds at Palisades Collegiate Classic
CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? UNC Greensboro shot a two-round total of 583 to sit in the middle of the pack, tied for eighth after two rounds at the Palisades Collegiate Classic on Monday afternoon.
The Spartans shot 288 in the morning round and 295 in the afternoon sit in a tie for eighth. The Spartans are just seven shots out of second place, however. Charlotte has a sizable lead atop the team leaderboard at 562, 14 shots better than Augusta State.
Sophomore Drew Younts is tied for 12th place at two-under par 142 after carding rounds of 72 and 70 on Monday. Campbell’s Fredric Sundberg is in the individual lead at 136 after firing consecutive rounds of 68. Josh Gallman of USC Upstate and Augusta State’s Tarik Can are tied for second at 137, one shot back. UNCG freshman Darragh Coghlan is tied for 16th at 143.
Tuesday’s final round begins at 8 am with tee times off Nos. 1 and 10.
UNCG’s groups begin off the No. 1 tee starting with the 8 am pairing.
AGATE
TEAM SCORING: Charlotte 562, Augusta State 576, USC Upstate 577, Marquette 579, VCU 579, Old Dominion 581, Xavier 581, UNCG 583, Belmont Abbey 583, Campbell 583, Francis Marion 588, Nebraska 595, Eastern Michigan 600, Davidson 621
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
Top 10: 1. Fredric Sundberg (Campbell) 68-68=136; T-2. Josh Gallman (USC
Upstate) 68-69=137; T-2. Tarik Can (Augusta State) 69-68=137; T-4. Corey Nagy (Charlotte) 68-70=138; T-4. Andrew DiBitetto (Charlotte) 68-70=138; 6.
Vincent Nadeau (VCU) 68-71=139; 7. Stefan Wiedergruen (Charlotte) 69-71=140; T-8. Mike VanSickle (Marquette) 72-69=141; T-8. Peter O’Neill
(Xavier) 73-68=141; T-8. Zak Drescher (Campbell) 73-68=141; T-8. Connor Tomlinson (Belmont Abbey) 73-68=141.
Other UNCG Golfers: T-12. Drew Younts 72-70=142; T-16. Darragh Coghlan 71-72=143; T-35. Brad Cline 72-76=148; T-43. Nathan Stamey 73-77=150; T-54.
Will Bowman 75-77=152.