No. 13 Wildcats finish tied for 3rd at LSC tournament

DALLAS -- The ACU Wildcats faded to a 23-over-par 311 on Tuesday on their way to finishing tied for third place at the Lone Star Conference golf championship tournament at the Bear Creek Golf Club.

 

The Wildcats trailed eventual tournament champion Northeastern State by 19 shots entering Tuesday's final 18 holes, but they never made a run at the Redmen, who easily won their second straight league championship.  Northeastern State shot an 8-over-par 296 on Tuesday to finish at 3-over-par 867 for the tournament, while Central Oklahoma was second at 20-over-par 884.

 

ACU and Texas A&M-Commerce finished tied for third at 37-over-par 901, just one stroke ahead of fifth-place Southeastern Oklahoma State (902) and two strokes ahead of sixth-place Cameron (903).

 

Joby Dutcher of Northeastern State was solid during all three rounds and won the individual conference championship with a 5-under-par score of 211.  He won the individual conference title by one stroke over Mitch Boles of Central Oklahoma and Matt Trammell of Cameron, each of whom posted three-round totals of 4-under-par 212.

 

For ACU, Patrick Hanauer finished sixth in the overall standings with a final score of 3-over-par 219, while Hugues Joannes finished at 5-over-par 221.  Both players shot rounds of 74 on Tuesday, tied for the team's low round of the day.

 

The Wildcats -- ranked No. 13 in the nation -- should earn an invitation to the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament, which will be played May 7-9 at the Robert Trent Jones of the Shoals Fighting Joe course.  That course played host to the North Alabama Spring Classic two weeks ago where the Wildcats shot a two-round total of 593 to finish a solid fourth against a strong field.