Samford’s Bobby Baird paces the team with a three-round score of 224
PENSACOLA, Fla. --- The Samford men’s golf team fired a third-round score of 307 on Tuesday to remain in ninth place at the West Florida Argonaut Invitational held at the Pensacola Country Club. The two-day event was the Bulldogs’ first competition of the 2009 spring season.
Samford concluded the 54-hole tournament with a total team score of 913 (317-289-307). The University of Virginia finished first in the event with an overall score of 865, while Liberty placed second at 866.
The Bulldogs’ top performer was senior Bobby Baird. Samford’s native of Knoxville, Tenn., tallied a three-round score of 224 (78-69-77) and turned in the team’s best round of the tournament Monday with a 69. Baird finished the 2009 West Florida Argonaut Invitational in a tie for 21st place.
Samford’s Ian Cutting registered the team’s best round of the day Tuesday. He carded a third-round score of 76 and finished the competition with a 54-hole total of 225 (78-71-76). Cutting concluded the tournament in a tie for 26th place.
Sophomore Martin Bunt finished in 43rd place with a final score of 232 (80-71-81), while teammates Jeremy Cox and Andrew Villarreal followed with three-round totals of 238 and 239, respectively.
The Samford University men’s golf team will next be in action Monday and Tuesday of next week as the Bulldogs play host to the 2009 Samford Invitational being held at Limestone Springs Golf Course in Oneonta, Ala.
Catamount Men's Golf Finishes Sixth at Spring-Opening Argonaut Invitational
Junior transfer Tanner Briele leads WCU with eighth-place finish
Pensacola, Fla. - Aided by a tourney-high 37 birdies over the three-round event, Western Carolina junior transfer Tanner Briele finished tied for eighth to lead the Catamounts to a sixth-place showing in the spring season-opening Argonaut Invitational held at the par 72, 6,815-yard Pensacola Country Club.
The Univ. of Virginia claimed team championship honors by a stroke over commonwealth foe, Liberty, 286-to-287. Washington State was five strokes off the lead with a three-round score of 870, followed by James Madison in fourth at 884 and the United States Air Force Academy rounding out the top five at 889. WCU was five strokes in arrears in sixth after carding a team 298 on the final round.
Day one leader, Tom Whitney of Air Force, claimed individual medalist honors with a nine-under, 207, four strokes ahead of second-place Kevin Tucker from Washington State. Host West Florida's Kyle Scott was third at 212, followed by Will Collins from UVa., and Liberty's Robert Karlsson rounding out the top five.
Briele fired the Catamounts' lowest round on the final day with a one-under, 71, to move 10 spots in the final standings from 18th after two to eighth on Tuesday. Day one leader, junior Ricky Stout, dropped into a tie for 15th with a three-over 75 on the final 18 holes to finish the tournament at 221.
Briele and Stout each finished tied for second in par 4 scoring at one-under (3.97) for the tournament.
Seniors Andres Cuenca and Dustin Furnari finished tied for 31st and 47th, respectively, while Drew Miller rounded out Western's scorers in a tied for 52nd.
Western Carolina will stay in the "Sunshine State" of Florida to compete in the Seminole Intercollegiate, hosted by Florida State at the Golden Eagle Country Club in Tallahassee, Fla., March 6-9.