The men’s golf team had a strong start to the year, finishing third in the Puerto Rico Classic Tuesday.

The Mustangs used a strong second and third day to propel themselves into a top three spot.

SMU was led by freshman Bryson Dechambeau who finished tied for eighth at 6-under-par. Dechambeau got off to a somewhat slow start only shooting 74 but was electrifying in round two with a 66.

SMU finished with four players under par for the tournament including two top 10s. The other top 10 came from senior Mario Clemens who played the steadiest golf on the team with all three rounds under par.

The men also received a strong performance from Austin Smotherman who finished tied for 12th finishing only a shot back from Clemens.

This will end up being one of the hardest meets they play all year and they held their ground and then some. Fourteen of the 15 teams in the tournament were ranked in GolfWeek/Sagarin rankings top 100. The Mustangs finished third in the event with favorite Alabama taking home the tournament. The Mustangs can be proud however as they were able to jump past no.10 Georgia Tech and no.11 Georgia in the last couple of days.

Another area that the team can be excited about was the all around performance they received from everyone on the team. There were no weak links this week as everyone finished around even par.

The Mustangs turned the tournament around on the second day, finishing 10-under. The Mustangs shot 5-under in the last round but that was good enough to maintain the momentum they had developed in the second.

It is important to note with how well SMU played, the tough competition they were facing in the form of Alabama.

Alabama won the tournament by 7 shots over Oklahoma but this was simply a show put on by the Crimson Tide, who finished 17 shots ahead of the Mustangs.

The Mustangs now have an extremely long break before they travel to Oregon for the Bandon Dunes Championship on March 8.

This is not ideal for them as they were definitely looking to continue this positive momentum. However this will provide an interesting storyline when the team returns in a couple weeks looking to keep up their solid play from the Puerto Rico Classic.