Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Murray State Racer Invitational
Men's Golf finishes in third place, ties 54-hole school record
09/10/2019 | 4:45:00 | Men's Golf
MURRAY, Ky. — The Southern Illinois men's golf program opened its season with a third-place finish out of 14 teams at the Murray State Racer Invitational on Tuesday at Miller Memorial Golf Course. The Salukis team score of 836 tied a 54-hole school record, which was last set at the 2018 Fuzzy Zoeller Intercollegiate.
Murray State (-22), the host and leader heading into the final round, won the invite. UT Martin (-18) placed second, just two strokes ahead of SIU (-16).
"As a team, we made too many mental mistakes over the three rounds to come out on top," head coach Justin Fetcho said. "You cannot expect to continue to make some of the mental lapses we had out there in certain situations and win a tournament. We are a young team and our inexperience showed at times throughout the event."
The Salukis were led by all-tournament honorees Frankie Thomas and Markus Wilhelmsen, who each shot par or under in all three rounds and finished with collegiate-best 54-hole scores. Thomas began the day in fifth place, but shot an impressive 68 (-3) to finish at 7-under par and tied for second overall. His 54-hole score of 206 was the third-lowest in SIU history. Wilhelmsen shot par (71) in the final round to finish tied for fifth place at 6-under par with a 54-hole score of 208 — the eighth-lowest in SIU history.
"I am pleased with Markus and Frankie's performances this week," Fetcho said. "They played three rounds of par or better golf in tournament conditions, which is always great to see. I am looking forward to both of them using this as momentum as we move forward into the season."
Saluki golfers Sean Mullan and Andrew Thornton were on the fridge of all-tournament honors, as they finished 10th overall out of the 94-man field at 2-under par . Mullan's 54-hole score of 211 was a collegiate-best and Thornton carded 68 (-3) in round three to improve his placement by 13 spots.
"We have some positives to take away from this event, as many good things happened," Fetcho explained. "We just have to build off those positives and put in some hard work over the next 10 days to get ourselves ready to go for the next one. We learned a lot about ourselves this week and now we need to take that and use it to make us stronger."
The Salukis are back in action at the UAB Graeme McDowell Invitational in Birmingham, Ala. from Sept. 23-24.
TEAM SCORES
1. Murray State 275-271-284 (830, -22)
2. UT Martin 285-276-273 (834, -18)
3. Southern Illinois 280-276-280 (836, -16)
4. Tennessee State 290-296-285 (871, +19)
5. IUPUI 284-293-295 (872, +20)
6. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 287-294-298 (879, +27)
T7. Green Bay 291-289-300 (880, +28)
T7. Evansville 282-292-306 (880, +28)
9. John A. Logan 301-290-301 (892, +31)
10. Eastern Illinois 302-295-303 (900, +48)
11. Southern Indiana 299-300-304 (903, +51)
12. Bethel 298-303-308 (909, +57)
13. Chicago State 306-302-313 (921, +69)
14. Alabama A&M 321-308-316 (945, +93)
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS * Individual
T2. Frankie Thomas 67-71-68 = 206
T5. Markus Wilhelmsen 68-69-71 = 208
T10. * Sean Mullan 70-69-72 = 211 Best
T10. Andrew Thornton 73-70-68 = 211
T14. Riley Klingelberg 72-67-75 = 214
T17. * Birgir Magnusson 67-72-76 = 215
T26. Matthis Besard 74-70-73 = 217
T36. * Vikar Jonasson 74-74-72 = 220 Best
T44. * Tom Cleaton 72-77-74 = 223
Players Mentioned
