Nov. 5, 2014
SAN MARTIN, Calif. (SMU) - The 20th-ranked SMU Mustangs men's golf team held its place during the final round of the Gifford Collegiate at CordeValle on Wednesday, finishing the tournament in seventh place. Junior
Austin Smotherman picked up his sixth-career top 10 finish, tying for 10th at 2-under par.
SMU's fall schedule is now complete, with the Mustangs resuming its season March 9-11 in Las Vegas.
Juniior
Bryson Dechambeau carded the low round for the Mustangs on Wednesday, posting an even-par 71 including three birdies on the back nine. DeChambeau wound up tying for 14th overall, marking his 12th top-15 finish over the last two seasons.
Sophomore
Andrew Buchanan and junior
Maxime Blandin each posted a 1-over 72, matching Smotherman's effort. The 72 was a season-low round for Blandin. Freshmen
Ben Baxter and
Gray Townsend each posted 3-over 74's to close out the scoring for SMU. Sophomore
Alex Higgs, competing as an individual, also carded a 74 to tie for 40th overall.
Although the team did not achieve the final result they hoped in their final fall tournament, SMU head coach
Jason Enloe saw some positives and believes his team is ready to make a run as they did last season, when SMU reached the NCAA quarterfinals.
"The guys competed hard today, just a lot of careless mistakes kept the guys from shooting under par today," Enloe said. "It's not a great way to finish the fall, but we will get better this offseason and be ready for the conference championships and regionals."
No. 6 UCLA (the tournament host) won the event, with No. 22 USC taking second after leading through the first two rounds. No. 14 Stanford, No. 4 Texas and Northwestern rounded out the top five. Northwestern's Dylan Wu won the individual title at 9-under par.
SMU will compete next at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters in Las Vegas. The three-day event will take place March 9-11.
