Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Big Blue Intercollegiate
Salukis sweep team and individual titles at Big Blue Intercollegiate
04/16/2013 | 12:00:00 | Men's Golf
April 16, 2013
By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com
OLD HICKORY, Tenn. - The Southern Illinois men's golf team swept the team and individual titles at the Big Blue Intercollegiate on Tuesday. The Salukis won the team title by five strokes, and Jake Erickson was the beneficiary of the tiebreaker to win the individual crown.
"We played a heck of a tournament," head coach Leroy Newton said. "I'm proud of every one of our guys; they all put up great scores. We played great golf from every spot. It's exciting to see the team playing this well."
Jake Erickson won the third tournament of his career, the first player in school history to record three tournament wins in a career. After tying with SIUE's Colin McCarty after 54 holes, Erickson was named the tournament's champion due to posting a lower third-round score, the tournament's tiebreaker.
"It's a great feeling, both personally and for the team," Erickson said. "I never expected to win three tournaments when I came here, but the hard work has paid off. The van ride home is a lot more fun after a win. We have put a lot of work in this spring, and tomorrow we'll start focusing on our goal, and that's to win the conference."
Erickson made six birdies in a row at one point in the first round on his way to an opening-round 67, the second-best first-round score in school history. In his final two holes of the third round, Erickson recorded a birdie and an eagle, respectively, and needed all three strokes to win the tournament. Erickson led the tournament with 17 birdies in 54 holes.
Brandon Cauldwell nearly matched Erickson's score, finishing just one shot behind Erickson and tied for third overall. Cauldwell played bogey-free golf in all three rounds, a career first. He recorded 45 pars, which led the tournament, and nine birdies over his three rounds.
"Everyone had at least two great rounds," Cauldwell said. "It boosts the confidence factor when Coach Newton is coming around and telling us how well everyone is playing. I just try to stay level during the tournament, but I was excited afterwards."
The duo of Erickson and Cauldwell both shot career-best 54-hole totals. Erickson's tournament total of 206 is the third-best three-round score in school history, and Cauldwell's (207) is the fourth-best.
Caleb Harms shook off a 77 in the first round to shoot 72 and 69 in the final two rounds. Harms's 69 in the final round was his first career round in the 60s for SIU. Joe Goelzhauser shot a season-best 70 in the opening round and tied for 43rd overall. Jeffrey Miller rebounded from an opening-round 80 to shoot back-to-back 73s in the final two rounds.
Southern got contributions from everyone and had three players score a round in the 60s. Southern's 54-hole team score (847) was the best in school history on par-72 course. Southern extended its streak of consecutive sub-300 team-score rounds to nine, the longest since the fall of 2006.
UP NEXT: The Salukis host the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Championships at Dalhousie on April 29-30 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
BIG BLUE INTERCOLLEGIATE IN THE SIU RECORD BOOKS
54-Hole Team Score, Par 72
847 - 1st
54-Hole Individual Score
206 (Jake Erickson) - 3rd
207 (Brandon Cauldwell - t-4th
Tournaments Won, Career
3 (Jake Erickson) - 1st
Single-Round Team Score
280 (Third Round) - t-4th
283 (First Round) - t-14th
284 (Second Round) - t-16th
Third-Round Team Score
280 - t-1st
Second-Round Team Score
284 - t-5th
First-Round Team Score
283 - t-5th
First-Round Individual Score
67 (Jake Erickson) - t-2nd
Second-Round Individual Score
68 (Brandon Cauldwell) - t-9th
Third-Round Individual Score
68 (Jake Erickson) - t-5th
Career Rounds in the 60s
8 (Jake Erickson) - t-3rd
8 (Brandon Cauldwell) - t-3rd
TEAM SCORES
1. Southern Illinois: 283-284-280 (847)
2. Lipscomb: 287-282-283 (852)
3. SIUE: 287-282-284 (853)
4. Tennessee-Martin: 292-288-276 (856)
5. Tennessee Tech 284-295-284 (863)
6. Belmont: 289-285-291 (865)
7. Morehead State: 282-292-292 (866)
8. Murray State: 285-284-298 (867)
t9. Tennessee State: 290-296-283 (869)
t9. South Dakota: 289-294-286 (869)
t9. Alabama State: 285-289-295 (869)
12. IPFW: 299-293-305 (897)
13. Trevecca Nazarene: 296-301-304 (901)
14. Eastern Illinois: 317-304-301 (922)
INDIVIDUAL SCORES
*t1. Jake Erickson: 67-71-68 (206)
t3. Brandon Cauldwell: 69-68-70 (207)
t30. Caleb Harms: 77-72-69 (218)
t43. Joe Goelzhauser: 70-73-77 (220)
t68. Jeffrey Miller: 80-73-73 (226)
#t72. George Tate: 74-76-77 (227)
*Won tournament on final round tiebreaker. Erickson's final round score (68) was better than SIUE's Colin McCarty's (69) to take the tiebreaker.
#Competed as an individual.
14 teams, 92 individuals
Players Mentioned
