HOUSTON — After three rounds of stiff competition, the Wildcats found themselves finishing second in the Bayou Collegiate Classic.
"I'm proud of the guys this week," head coach Tom Shaw said. "We had a lot of struggles and challenges in our first tournament and after two good weeks of practice, we came out and looked like the team that I knew we could be. This experience will give us confidence moving forward towards another WAC championship in April."
The 'Cats, who finished the tournament shooting 25 under par, found themselves only second to Sam Houston, who finished the tournament shooting 27 strokes under par. The tournament was an 11-team field. The Wildcats beat out the two teams fielded by host Rice, UL-Monroe, Wichita State, UTRGV, Lamar, Houston Christian, Samford and UT Arlington.
ACU finished the two rounds of action at Westwood Country Club on Monday shooting 25 strokes under par. The 'Cats finished the first round shooting 13 under, good for third place in the round. Then in the second round, ACU shot a round-best 12 under par, allowing to tie the Bearkats for the tie for first.
By shooting 25 under par on Monday, the Wildcats set a new Bayou City Collegiate Classic 36-hole record.
In the final round of play on Tuesday, the Wildcats finished the day shooting right on par, while Sam Houston finished shooting two under par, giving ACU the second-place finish.
"Many of our guys have not been in this position before, being tied for the lead going into the final round," Shaw said. "We didn't play a great round of golf but we hung tough and fought until the very last hole. Sam Houston has an excellent golf team and we were neck and neck with them all week."
Two Wildcats completed the tournament in the top 10 in the 80-player field, which included individuals competing from schools competing outside of team play such as Houston, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.
Preston Cooper led the Wildcats, finishing the tournament in fifth place overall. He finished the first round of play shooting three under par, then had the best score in round two, shooting six under par. In the third round, Cooper finished shooting one under par, finishing the tournament shooting a total of 10 strokes under par. In the three rounds of action, Cooper had 18 birdies throughout the entire tournament.
Jaime Lewis finished directly under Cooper in sixth. Lewis shot a first-round best score of seven under par, shot the second round shooting one under par and then shot the third round one under par. Lewis ultimately finished the Bayou City Collegiate Classic shooting nine under par and finished the tournament with a total of 15 birdies.
As for the rest of the Wildcats, many saw season-best finishes over the weekend.
Trenton Johnson finished the tournament in the top-25, shooting two under par throughout the entire tournament. Preston DeFriend finished the week shooting on par, with his best round being the second round when he shot three under par. Grégoire Hoyeau finished the tournament shooting eight over par but saw a tournament-best one over par in the final round.
Individually, Jack Hollingsed shot six over par in the three rounds of play, and opened with a personal best six under par in the first round of action.
The Wildcats will hope to maintain the momentum they gained at Westwood Country Club next week as they head to Trinity Forest Golf Club, a course that has hosted several major championships, on Sunday, October 6 through Tuesday, October 8, for the Trinity Forest Invitational hosted by SMU.
You can follow the 'Cats and their appearance at the Trinity Forest Invitational by following the 'Cats on social media on X or Instagram and acusports.com.
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