Nov. 7, 2006
SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- In Tuesday's final round at the CordeValle Collegiate, the men's golf team showed that Santa Clara can compete with the top programs in the country. At the end of play Monday, Santa Clara was tied for 16th place with the University of Oklahoma at the bottom of the leaderboard. But Tuesday, as a team Santa Clara shot five under par in their final round - the 7th best of the day by the 17 teams - and finished tied for 12th place with a combined score of 871 (295, 293, 283).
Jong Yoon kept up his momentum from the second round, turning in a final round of 69 (-3), and he finished tied for 38th place. Yoon began the day on the 9th and 10th holes where he had to finish his second round, which had to be put off until Tuesday due to darkness. Despite a bogey on the 9th, he had a great bounce-back with a birdie on 10 to finish his second round at -2. He then began his final round on the par 5 18th hole. After par-ing the 18th, Yoon birdied the 1st, and after a bogey on 3, Yoon had another bounce-back birdie on 4. Three holes later Yoon put together back to back birdies on the 7th and 8th to bring himself to -3 for his final round. Yoon doubled the 11th hole, but then eagled the par-5 15th to remain at -3 for his final round.
Freshman Scott Travers did a great job keeping Yoon on his game, as he too played a solid final round. After bogeying the final holes of his second round, he refocused superbly and started his final round with three consecutive pars followed by three consecutive birdies. He did bogey the par-3 7th hole, but eagled the par-4 13th hole - one of the most difficult holes on the course - before bogeying his final hole of the day, the 17th, to finish his final round at -2.
Freshman Alex Bon and senior Eric Lillibridge seemed to swap roles in the final round. After Lillibridge's steady and consistent first rounds of 71 (-1) and 73 (+1), a string of consecutive bogeys in his final round forced him to bounce back with consecutive birdies, and he finished his final round +3. Freshman Alex Bon played his final round just like Lillibridges first and second rounds - lots of pars with an occasional birdie. Bon had a bogey on the number 2, but managed three birdies and all the rest pars the remainder of the way to finish his final round at -2.
Sophomore Garrett Logan had a disappointing final round, and was disqualified when he realized a scoring error after turning in his card. It didn't matter, however, for the Broncos as their other top scorers had already left their mark on the field. It was just the end to the fall season that the team had been looking for.
The squad from Stanford were the winners, after collectively shooting 20 under par in their final round. Stanford's final combined score of 822, 42 below par, was 14 strokes better than the next best finisher, USC. Individually, Rob Grube and Zach Miller, both from Stanford, shared the individual title, finishing with a combined score of 202, 14 under par.
With the fall season now complete, Santa Clara will begin preparation for the spring season, which will begin Monday, February 26th, 2007 at the Anteater Invitational in Newport Beach, Calif..
Results:
Pos. Name School Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Comb.
T38 Jong Yoon Santa Clara Univ. +1 78 70 69 217
T43 Scott Travers Santa Clara Univ. +2 74 75 69 218
T50 Eric Lillibridge Santa Clara Univ. +3 71 73 75 219
T81 Alex Bon Santa Clara Univ. +11 76 81 70 227
- Garrett Logan Santa Clara Univ. 74 75 D -
