FINAL RESULTS
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. - No. 120 Abilene Christian men's golf saved its best round for last to close out the Seattle U Redhawk Invitational in 13th place on Tuesday at Chambers Bay. The Wildcats rose two spots on the 18-team leaderboard to record a 41-over 905 across the tournament's three rounds.
ACU fired a 6-over 294 on the final day of action as
Jaime Lewis shot 22 spots up the individual leaderboard thanks to a 2-under 70 final round. He settled into a tie for 36th place at 7-over 223 to lead the charge for the Wildcats, who showed a 13-stroke improvement from the first round to the third.
St. Thomas and UC Riverside shared the team titles as they each wrapped up the Redhawk Invitational at even par. The Highlanders logged the field's best performance in the final round at 12-under 276 to rise two spots into a tie for first. Utah Tech shot 7-over 295 on Tuesday to drop six spots after tying for the lead entering the final round.
The Tommies' Matt Armstrong clinched the individual crown with a 6-under 66 showing on the final day, his best round of the weekend.
Lewis bettered his standing each day as he improved his score from round to round. After shooting 6-over 78 to begin Monday's action, he carded a 3-over 75 to close out the day. Lewis notched just one bogey on Tuesday and countered it with three birdies.
Lewis paced ACU in shooting 4-over across par-3 and par-4 holes while scoring 1-under on par 5s. He tied for the fewest bogeys amongst the Wildcats with 13 and led them with 35 pars.
Colin Leonard joined Lewis as the two Wildcats to improve their standing on the leaderboard on Tuesday. He rose 10 spots into a tie for 62nd place, where he met
Thomas Buisson and
Preston DeFriend at 12-over 228. Leonard opened the tournament at 8-over 80 and finished it with a 1-over 73. He headed ACU with six birdies after bogeying on four of his first five holes.
Buisson fell four spots in the final round at 3-over 75, as his opening score of 2-over 74 proved to be his best. Similarly, DeFriend shot 3-over 75 to kick off the action on Monday before registering a 4-over 76 on Tuesday. After hitting just one birdie in the first round, DeFriend tallied four in each of the next two rounds. His nine birdies were the most on the Wildcats and tied for 23rd in the field.
Preston Cooper rounded out ACU in a draw for 92nd place at 19-over 235, with his best showing coming in the second round at 5-over 77. He scored the Wildcats' lone eagle on the par-5 hole No. 18. Cooper was in action for the first time since winning Jersey Mike's A Sub Above Western Athletic Conference Golfer of the Week honors following the Bentwater Intercollegiate on Feb. 10-11.
In its final tune-up before the WAC Championship, ACU will compete at the Buckeye Classic, hosted by Ohio State at Columbus Country Club in Columbus, Ohio on April 11-12.
