Men's Golf | 3/17/2016 11:01:00 PM
Final ResultsLAS COLINAS – ACU finished off its three-day run in the Bob Sitton Invitational in Thursday's final round by posting its score of the tournament on its way to a ninth-place finish in the 17-team field.
The Wildcats shot 293 Thursday over the par-71, 6,740-yard layout at the TPC Four Seasons, which is annually the home to the PGA Tour's Byron Nelson Classic. The Wildcats finished ninth with a three-round total of 896 following rounds of 298, 305 and 293. ACU's annual Byron Nelson Classic was played at the same course for years after Mr. Nelson's generous donation to the ACU golf program more than 30 years ago.
"It was a terrific experience playing a course that hosts a PGA Tour event," ACU head coach
Tom Shaw said. "The TPC Four Seasons was a challenging setup for everyone. What was especially neat for us was seeing the legacy of Byron Nelson displayed everywhere at the Four Seasons. It made us feel proud of ACU's association with such a great man."
Long Beach State won the team championship with three solid rounds (285-288-294) that resulted in a final score of 15-over-par 867, beating runner-up Stephen F. Austin by 11 strokes as the Wildcats' Southland Conference rival finished at 26-over-par 878 (287-299-292).
Central Arkansas was third at 32-over-par 884, followed by Wyoming in fourth at 35-over-par 887, and Oral Roberts in fifth at 38-over-par 890. Other Southland teams in the field were Lamar (seventh at 40-over-par 892), Incarnate Word (eighth at 42-over-par 894) and Houston Baptist (11th at 55-over-par 907).
Freshman
Garrett Glanton recovered from an opening-round 78 on Tuesday to finish 72-74 over the final two rounds and finish tied for 28th in the individual standings at 11-over-par 224. He finished one stroke ahead of junior teammate,
Ryan Beatty, who finished at 12-over-par 225 (73-78-74).
Dillon Vaughn – playing with a heavy heart after the passing of his grandfather and attending his funeral after Wednesday's round – finished tied for 37th at 13-over-par 226. His teammate,
Robert Johnson, was also 13-over-par 226, while senior
Luke Carpenter finished tied for 52nd at 17-over-par 230.
Brandon Stites played as an individual and finished tied for 40th at 14-over-par 227 after recovering from an opening-round 80 to shoot rounds of 70 and 77 on the final two days.
"We handled the challenging aspects of the course well for the most part," Shaw said. "But we struggled too much with the basics: hitting fairways and greens consistently. We had to rely on our short games and clutch putting too much. As they say: there are two things that don't last long: dogs that chase cars and golfers who putt for pars. We did not take advantage of the opportunities that were presented with the easier holes all week, so we made the easy look difficult on far too many occasions."
The Wildcats will take a week off before heading to Little Rock, Ark., to play in the Arkansas-Little Rock First Tee Classic, March 28-29, at the Chenal Country Club. ACU has just two more tournaments to play before the Southland Conference championship tournament, April 18-20, at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney.
