Men's Golf places 12th at Little Rock Invitational

Tuesday, October 22

Little Rock, AR

Southern Illinois University

Little Rock Invitational

10/22/2019 | 4:20:00 | Men's Golf

Final Results

By: By Alex Underwood, SIUSalukis.com

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Southern Illinois men's golf program finished in 12th place out of 15 teams at the Little Rock Invitational on Tuesday at Chenal Country Club. Illinois State won a one-hole playoff over Campbell to claim the tournament title at 8-over par.

"We are still trying to learn and improve each time out," head coach Justin Fetcho said. "We keep making similar mistakes each round, which is something that we have to put a strong emphasis on over the next few days to get ourselves ready for Hawaii. We have to become mentally tougher and able to place the ball on the correct side of the pin. We will continue to give shots away if we don't."

Southern finished with a 54-hole score of 903 (+39). The Salukis began the day in 11th place, but dropped one spot in the team standings after firing a 304, their highest round of the tournament. Missouri Valley Conference opponents Missouri State and Bradley placed behind SIU at 14th and 15th overall.

Frankie Thomas and Matthis Besard led the Salukis in the individual standings for the third time in SIU's last four tournaments, as they tied for 33rd out of 87 golfers at 8-over par. Thomas shot 73 (+1) in round three to climb a team-best 19 spots on Day Two. Besard, who sat 40th to start round three, carded 75 on the final 18 holes to move up eight spots in the standings.

"Frankie showed a lot of fight today in his round," Fetcho said. "He got off to a poor start and was +5 after six holes, but he came fighting and clawing back to shoot 1-over par. He exemplified the toughness that we were looking for and I'm very proud on how Frankie was able to respond in a difficult situation."

Vikar Jonasson shot 76 in all three rounds to finish 54th at 16-over par. Freshmen golfers Andrew Thornton and Riley Klingelberg tied for 71st (+16).

Southern will close its fall season in Hawaii at the Ka'anapali Classic Invitational from Nov. 1-3.

"This was a disappointing week for our team and hopefully we can use this as momentum to get better for our next event," Fetcho said. "We have some work to do over the next few days to get ourselves ready to go to Hawaii and end the fall season on a strong note."

TEAM SCORES

T1. Illinois State 289-289-292 (872, +8) - Won playoff hole over Campbell to claim title
T1. Campbell 288-291-293 (872, +8)
3. Middle Tennessee 295-284-298 (877, +13)
4. Little Rock 284-294-302 (880, +16)
5. Eastern Michigan 291-286-304 (881, +17)
T6. Oral Roberts 289-289-305 (883, +19)
T6. Lamar 297-289-297 (883, +19)
8. Texas State 290-291-305 (886, +22)
9. Stephen F. Austin 298-298-301 (897, +33)
10. Southern Miss. 297-303-299 (899, +35)
11. Central Arkansas 293-305-302 (900, +36)
12. Southern Illinois 302-297-304 (903, +39)
13. UT Arlington 303-309-294 (906, +42)
14. Missouri State 301-304-311 (916, +52)
15. Bradley 304-320-325 (949, +85)

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

T33. Matthis Besard 75-74-75 = 224 (+8)
T33. Frankie Thomas 74-77-73 = 224 (+8)
T54. Vikar Jonasson 76-76-76 = 228 (+12)
T71. Andrew Thornton 77-73-82 = 232 (+16)
T71. Riley Klingelberg 78-74-80 = 232 (+16)