Sept. 16, 2014

Final Results

BURLINGTON, Iowa (SMU) - The SMU Mustangs posted the lowest team score for the day at 4-under to finish second at the GolfWeek Conference Challenge at the Spirit Hollow Golf Course on Tuesday. Freshman Ben Baxter led the Mustangs at 4-under individually to place fourth in his first collegiate tournament.

Baxter tied for the low round of the day with a 68. Only Baxter and Cody Blick of San Jose State carded scores in the 60s on Tuesday. Baxter totaled six birdies during his round, and shot 4-under between holes 6-12.

Junior Austin Smotherman also posted a top-five finish, taking fifth at 1-under par. Smotherman turned in a 68 himself during the first round on Sunday. Sophomore Andrew Buchanan had a career-best finish, tying for ninth at 2-over after finishing the event with two even-par rounds.

Freshman Gray Townsend, who opened the tournament with an 81, posted his second straight under-par round with a 2-under 70. Townsend had four total birdies on the day, including two early on holes 2 and 3. Sophomore Alex Higgs finished at 10-over with a 3-over 75 on Tuesday.

"We stuck to the plan and the improved conditions today allowed for some low scores," SMU head coach Jason Enloe said. "We earned a really respectable finish today. We got beat on par-fives and on the greens, but if it weren't for that I think we would've been right there with LSU at the top of the leaderboard."

Overall, SMU shot 4-under to beat tournament champion No. 9 LSU by six strokes in the final round. Iowa was the only other team to go under-par on Tuesday at 1-under, good for a third-place finish.

Oregon State and Southeastern Louisiana tied for fourth, while Texas State, San Jose State, Eastern Michigan, Austin Peay State and Richmond rounded out the top 10.

Enloe feels his squad, which played the tournament without All-American Bryson Dechambeau and without junior Ryan Burgess, learned a lot from this tournament and will only play better moving forward.

"The better you play against better competition, the more confidence you get," Enloe said. "When we get our lineup set and healthy, we'll be ready for the spring. The kids are good kids and they work hard. They act like gentlemen and I only heard good things about how they acted this week, and that's all I can ask for. We had a blast this week; we had a lot of fun."

SMU will be back in action starting Oct. 5 for the Erin Hills Collegiate in Erin, Wisc. The three-day event will conclude Oct. 7.

2	SMU	287	289	284	860
4	Ben Baxter (1)	72	73	68	213
T5	Austin Smotherman (3)	68	73	74	215
T9	Andrew Buchanan (2)	74	72	72	218
T21	Gray Townsend (5)	81	71	70	222
T34	Alex Higgs (4)	73	78	75	226