(Courtesy of SMU Athletics)
MEN
The SMU men’s golf team, which was ranked No. 28 by Golfweek in the preseason, started the year off with a second place finish at the Gopher Invitational at Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata, Minn. last week.
Freshman Bryson DeChambeau was the low man for the Mustangs finishing at 2-over-par, which was good for fifth overall.
Overall four of the five Mustangs finished inside the top 12, including three freshmen.
Junior Harry Higgs finished in a tie for sixth place with a 3-over-par total.
Ryan Burgess, a freshman from Santa Fe, Calif., finished in a tie for ninth place with a 5-over-par total.
Also with a strong finish was freshman Austin Smotherman who finished in a tie for twelfth at 6-over-par.
“It’s a great start to the year for such a young team,” head coach Josh Gregory told SMU Athletics. “Four guys finishing in the top 12 is very impressive.”
The Mustangs got off to a slow start to the invitational falling behind in the first round.
However, over the next two rounds the team outshot the rest of the field by 15 shots in the next two days.
The second round for featured two memorable shots for SMU. Higgs had a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole.
Not only that, Smotherman double-eagled the third hole to get the team going.
The final member of the SMU team, sophomore Sam Fidone, struggled a little bit finishing in a tie for the No.41 spot at 16-over-par.
Up next for the SMU men is a trip to Olympia Fields, Ill. for the Olympia Fields Invite Sept.30 to Oct. 2.
WOMEN
The women’s golf team defended their Chip-N Club Invitational title beating Missouri by 15 shots in Lincoln, Neb. last week.
Alexandra Rossi, a freshman playing in her first event, made a final round charge finishing with a 68 to take medalist honors.
Rossi bounced back from an 81 in the second round that appeared to severely damage her chances coming into the final round.
“She managed the golf course a little bit better today,” head coach Jeanne Sutherland told SMU Athletics. “She scored [last week] with her putter instead of trying to from the fairway. She just played well the entire day. She placed where she needed to.”
Rossi was named Conference USA Golfer of the Week on Sept. 12 after her final round performance in Nebraska.
Coming into the last round SMU was trailing before making their charge.
“How we played [last week] is what we’re going to need to do in every round, ” Sutherland said “We did a great job. Every player made a commitment and it was fun to watch. We stayed in the present. We just played golf and got the ball in the hole.”
The Mustangs also showed great performances from freshman Jenny Haglund, junior Maria Elena Villamil and sophomore Jennifer Park.
Haglund finished in fourth with an 8-over-par total. Villamil, from Madrid, finished in a tie for the No.15 spot at 17-over-par and Park finished in a tie for the Nov. 21 spot at 21-over-par.
The team headed to Tulsa, Okla. Monday and Tuesday to compete in the Dale McNamara Invitational.
SMU finished Monday in the No.16 spot out of fifteen teams.
Park held the best score on the team at the end of the second round. She was tied for seventh even with the 72-par course.
Tuesday the team finished the tournament with a combined score of 889, holding the Mustangs in the No.6 spot the team earned Monday.
Park also held her position as the team leader at 2-over-par and as the only Mustang inside the top 10.
Haglund, from Karlstad, Sweden, played a consistent game according to her coach and tied for the No.14 spot at 4-over-par.
Senior Melanie White joined Haglund in the top 25 at 7- over-par.
The Mustangs have a week off until the next competition, the Johnie Imes tournament in Columbia, Mo., Oct. 1 to Oct. 2.
