DALLAS - Sophomore
Francisco Osio Tuesday carded a 2-under 69 during the third and final day of competition at the Trinity Forest Invitational hosted by SMU. Osio's effort, which featured a pair of birdies and an eagle on the par-five seventh hole, lifted him 10 spots on the individual leaderboard and into a tie for 17th place with five additional players at 2-under 211.
A native of Mexico City, Osio began the week with a 1-over 72 and followed it up with Monday's 1-under 70 and today's 69, which was the second-lowest round recorded by a Wildcat. Sophomore transfer
Brian Choe produced a 67 Monday but four bogeys across the front nine today led to a 3-over 74 and 4-over 217 for the tournament, tying him for 49th place in a field of 90 competitors.
"I'm very pleased with Francisco," said head coach
Tom Shaw. "He continues to show signs of becoming an excellent collegiate golfer. We have a talented squad and it's just a matter of time before we start putting it together more frequently."
With four of the five Wildcats Tuesday finishing above par, the team slipped to 15th place at 11-over 863, a score that was four strokes ahead of Kansas State and 24 better than North Texas. A day earlier, however, ACU shaved 18 strokes off its first-round score, going from a Sunday total of 297 to a 279 on Monday.
"Overall it was a good tournament for us as we improved upon our performance from last year at this same event (871)," said Shaw. "We held our own against some really good teams. We missed so many short putts coming down the stretch that we could have easily found our way into the top 10, but I'm encouraged by the positions were putting ourselves into, we just need to close the deal in the future. In the end we defeated big 12 foe Kansas State and a solid North Texas squad."
Arizona State -- led by medalist Alex Del Ray (16-under 197) -- broke a two-day deadlock with the Mustangs to win the team title by four strokes at 30-under 222. The Sun Devils recorded the best third round of the day, finishing at 9-under 275, while yesterday both they and SMU completed the second round at 16-under 268. The two schools also were tied for first after Sunday's action at 5-under 279.
Next up for the Wildcats is a trip to the Bentwater Yacht and Country Club in Montgomery, Texas for the Sam Houston State-hosted Bentwater Intercollegiate.
