Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Arizona Intercollegiate
Salukis finish 15th at Arizona Intercollegiate
01/30/2016 | 12:00:00 | Men's Golf
By: Tony McDaniel
SIUSalukis.com
TUCSON, Ariz.-- Southern Illinois spent most of the final round on Saturday in the range of 12th place, but was bumped down the leaderboard late in the round and finished 15th out of 17 teams at the Arizona Intercollegiate at Sewailo Golf Club.
"We're disappointed," said coach Justin Fetcho. "After the first day there were some positives to take away. We didn't play well in the first round, but in the second round we had one of the better rounds of any team for a large part of the day."
Southern shot a team score of 307 in the third and final round; it was the highest score of any team in the third round. South Dakota State and Denver passed the Salukis in the final holes of the tournament to push the Salukis down the leaderboard to 15th. Arizona, the host school of the Arizona Intercollegiate finished in 12th place with a three-round score of 904, just eight strokes ahead of SIU.
Southern's best round as a team was the second. The team shot a 296 in that round, which was the eighth-best score for the second round.
Texas, the 10th ranked team in the NCAA, cruised to victory at the Arizona Intercollegiate. The Longhorns shot a 277 in the third round to clinch the win. No. 23-ranked Washington finished in second and was the only other team to finish the tournament with a below-par team score at four strokes under par. California finished in third place with a team score of 852, which was good for par.
"Any time that a mid-major program like us can go and tee it up against teams that have won national championships or are perennial top-25 teams in the country, that's going to make us better and drive us to succeed even more," Fetcho said.
Junior Matt Greenfield had the best tournament of any Saluki. He finished in a three-way tie for 29th thanks to a consistent two days. Greenfield shot a 74 in the first round followed by a 73 and a 75 in the final two rounds. He finished the tournament with the third-best score on par threes at one under par. Brandon Carlson, who played at Sewailo Golf Club during winter break, finished tied for 32nd.
"From tee to green that's the best [Greenfield] has hit it since he's been at SIU. He hit a lot of fairways and hit his irons really well," Fetcho said. "Brandon and Matt brought the consistency for us this week."
Texas's Beau Hossler finished as the tournament's overall champion with a score of 202 to finish 11 strokes under par. Hossler shot six under par on the courses par fives.
Southern had one player, Luke Gannon, play in the Arizona Medalist, an individual tournament at nearby Starr Pass Golf Club in Tuscon, Ariz. Gannon finished tied for 20th at the Arizona Medalist with a three-round score of 233. Gannon finished tied for 11th in birdies with eight during the tournament. Fetcho said it was a great opportunity for Gannon to get practice against good competition.
SIU's next tournament is the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, Calif. on Feb., 19, 20 and 21.
Team Leaderboard
Pos. School Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Total To Par
1 Texas 284 282 277 843 -9
2 Washington 277 281 290 848 -4
3 California 292 280 280 852 E
4 New Mexico 290 286 280 856 +4
5 Washington State 294 301 289 884 +32
15 Southern Illinois 309 296 308 913 +61
SIU scores
T28 Matt Greenfield (3) +3 (F) +2 (F) +4 (F) 222
T32 Brandon Carlson (5) +5 (F) +2 (F) +3 (F) 223
T57 Drew Novara (2) +5 (F) +5 (F) +8 (F) 231
T74 Charles Hawn (4) +13 (F) +3 (F) +9 (F) 238
84 Peyton Wilhoit (1) +12 (F) +16 (F) +13 (F) 254
Players Mentioned
