PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — In their final tournament of the fall season, the Wildcats finished third at the FAU Golf Invitational.
The tournament lasted two days with three rounds being played at the Champions Course at the PGA National Resort. The 'Cats competed in one of the hardest courses at PGA National. The 7,048-yard course with par set at 72 has also hosted several PGA tour championships.
ACU finished third out of 12 teams that competed at the PGA National Resort, shooting 21-over par in the three rounds of play. South Florida took a dominant win, finishing the tournament shooting on par. In second was North Alabama, who finished the course 20-over par.
As for the rest of the field, ACU finished with scores higher than nine other programs. Those programs included Stetson, UCF, Seton Hall, Florida Atlantic, UAB, Toledo, Jacksonville State, Central Arkansas and Temple.
On day one, the Wildcats shot the first round 5-over par in the first round but struggled in the second half of the day shooting 18-over in the second round of play. They finished the first day tied for ninth with Seton Hall.
The Wildcats had their best day on the course in the third and final round. ACU earned the second-best team score on the day shooting a combined 2-under par on Tuesday, allowing them to move from ninth to third in the standings. The team had a combined 14 birdies in the third round.
"I'm proud of the effort the team gave today," head coach Tom Shaw said. "We struggled to keep our energy and composure in the second round yesterday and I challenged them last night to come out today with greater resiliency. We played in tough conditions today with a good deal of wind and the team did a great job of taking care of their business. It was a very positive sign of what this team can be."
Colin Leonard had the best finish among the Wildcats, finishing in a three-way tie for third place. Leonard finished the tournament shooting 2-over par, with his tournament being highlighted by a 1-under par performance in the opening round of play. He had a combined eight birdies in all three rounds of tournament play.
Finishing in ninth overall for ACU was Jack Hollingsed, shooting 4-over par through the whole tournament. His tournament was highlighted by shooting 1-under par with three birdies in the final round of play, which was tied for third-best score in the final round.
"I'm pleased with our two freshmen Colin Leonard and Jack Hollingsed," Tom Shaw said. "It's very rare to have one, much less two, freshmen finish in the top 10 in a tournament. Preston Cooper and Thomas Buisson also played well in the final round and helped us complete the final round push."
Thomas Buisson finished tied for 24th, shooting 7-over par for the whole tournament. His appearance on the champions course was also highlighted in the third round, where he alongside Hollingsed shot 1-under par with three birdies.
Preston Cooper finished right behind Buisson, shooting 8-over par through the entire tournament. His best round was also the third round where he shot right at the 71 par.
Jaime Lewis rounded out the 'Cats in team play, where he ultimately finished shooting 18-over par. Brian Comegys also finished the tournament right behind shooting 19-over par in the three rounds of play.
With the fall portion of the season coming to a close, the Wildcats will now set their sights for the spring. Up first, ACU will head to the Iberostar Playa Paraíso Golf Club in Cancun, Mexico for the Los Vaqueros tournament.
You can follow 'Cats as they now prepare for the spring portion of their season on social media on X or Instagram and acusports.com.
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