RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – The Western Carolina men’s golf team concluded play at its spring-opening tournament on Tuesday, coming home 10th overall at the Pro Compression Invitational hosted by the University of San Diego at the par-72, 6,947-yard The Farms Golf Club. Catamount junior Bright Julamool paced the squad with a season-best finish, placing amidst a tie for 18th overall with a score of 6-over-par 222.
Play resumed Tuesday morning with the golfers completing the halted second round from Monday before moving straight into the final round of competition.
Julamool, who led WCU through the first two rounds on Monday, closed the tournament with an up-and-down final round that included nine pars, seven bogeys and a pair of birdies – both coming on the final four holes to close the event strong. The Bangkok, Thailand, native followed up his first two rounds of 71 and 74 with a 5-over-par 77 on Tuesday.
Julamool finished with a combined 35 pars over the 54-hole event, tied for the sixth-most in the field.
Junior Dylan MacQueen posted WCU’s best final round score at 2-over-par 74 on Tuesday. The Woodstock, Ontario, product, countered four bogeys with a pair of birdies and finished the day with six consecutive pars. He closed the tournament with a two-day score of 223 (74-75-74). MacQueen ranked tied for the tournament lead in par-5 scoring at 7-under par (4.42).
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five were junior Jackson Bishop in a tie for 41st at 231, sophomore Mark David Johnson in a tie for 52nd at 235, and sophomore Lawson King placing among a tie for 57th overall at 241, closing the tournament with his best round of 5-over-par 77. Both Bishop and King charted a team-best nine birdies over the three rounds.
Playing unattached, WCU sophomore Bradley Durand finished tied with King in 57th place, while senior Evan Smith was 62nd in the tournament field with a three-round score of 247, shooting his best round of 77 on Tuesday. Smith finished with eight birdies, matching his teammate MacQueen for the event.
UC Santa Barbara led the tournament from start to finish, cruising to a nine-stroke victory over second-place Wichita State, which chopped nine strokes off the deficit over Tuesday’s final 18 holes. UCSB shot 852 (279-278-295), while the Shockers posted a team score of 861 (286-289-286). Cal Poly rallied to third place with a three-round score of 876 (295-290-291), followed by UC Irvine (882) and Seattle University (888) rounding out the top five.
Wichita State's Yannick Emmert took home individual medalist honors with a score of 13-under-par 203 (63-72-68). He edged Sacramento State’s Aaron Beverly by five strokes at 208 (66-70-72). UC Santa Barbara had the next three finishers to round out the top five overall.
Western Carolina returns to action Feb. 27-28 with its first of back-to-back trips to Florida as it takes on the field at The Legacy Collegiate, hosted by Stetson at the Heathrow Country Club in Longwood, Fla. The Catamounts look to build upon last year’s eighth-place finish at the same tournament with Bishop pacing the squad in a tie for 19th overall.