LAREDO, Texas – Facing strong winds and a loaded field, the Illinois State men's golf team rose four spots into a tie for 7th place overall at the 2022 Border Olympics hosted by the University of Houston.
"It was a great team effort today in tough, windy conditions," said ISU head coach Ray Kralis. "We can definitely take some momentum from this tournament which is so early in the season. It is always important to manage expectations this early in the year, especially when we're competing in solid fields, against teams playing on course year-round, so I am very pleased with how we competed. It always feels good moving up the leaderboard and earning some quality wins."
After opening with two consecutive 299's, the Redbirds carded a final-round 302, which was the sixth-best round on the day, giving ISU a three-round total of 900. Sitting 11th heading into the final day, the 'Birds climbed four spots into a tie of 7th place along with New Mexico State. Tournament host Houston ran away with the tournament win, carding a three-round 852, while Louisiana Tech shot an 867 ad Lamar an 870 to round out the top three. Nationally ranked (50th) Baylor took fourth, while Sam Houston State (883) and ULM (884) rounded out the six schools ahead of the Redbirds. UTSA (901), Rice (901), Bowling Green (911), Michigan (913), Houston Baptist (917) and Abilene Christian (921) rounded out the six schools behind the Redbirds.
The Redbirds got a balanced scoring day from the squad, as two players carded a 75, two with a 76 and one with a 77. Valentin Peugnet finished the tournament with a final-round 76, and his +5 overall aggregate score saw him tie for 19th in the field. Joe Hodgson's +11 for the three rounds put him tied for 36th, while Parker Wisdom tied for 43rd, and Alex McCulla and Andrew O'Brien tied for 49th.
McCulla and O'Brien each shot a 75 on the final day to tie for the team lead, as each had identical rounds that included a birdie and 13 pars, to each finish with a three-round 229.
Wisdom and Peugnet shot matching 76's on the final round, but unlike McCulla and O'Brien's matching third round, the two could not have been more different. Peugnet had a balanced final 18 holes, that saw a birdie, a dozen pars and five bogeys en route to his four-over 76. Wisdom was more up and down with three birdies, eight pars, three bogeys and two double-bogeys. Joe Hodgson closed the day with a five-over 77 on the windy round with a birdie and 11 pars on his day.
ISU returns to action in two weeks when the squad travels south once again to compete in the Coral Creek Club Invitational hosted by Florida Gulf Coast on Monday, February 28.
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