SEASIDE, Calif. - Santa Clara's Scott Lowe tied for second among an 84-man field at the 2012 St. Mary's Invitational held at the Bayonet and Blackhorse Golf Courses just outside Monterey. Lowe posted rounds of 72-70-71 to finish 3-under par, just one shot from his first-ever collegiate win.

"Pretty bittersweet. Solid week of play, but would have liked to get the title being so close," Lowe said about his best collegiate finish to date. "Going into the round, I figured getting to five (under-par) was probably the number I needed. I just didn't take advantage of my opportunities. When I had five holes to play, I was three back, so I knew I needed to make some birdies. After talking with Coach (Miller) I birdied my last par-3 but burned the edge on the first two par-5's coming in. I had some looks on those holes, but they just didn't fall." 

Lowe made just four bogeys spanning the 54-hole tournament, which attracts a national field of 15 teams (six ranked in top-100). True freshman and Bay Area prep phenom Carlos Briones fired a 1-over par 73 Tuesday to post a top 20 finish. As a team, Santa Clara outplayed WCC rivals San Francisco and Loyola Marymount, along with four of the six schools competing from out of state.

"Defintely a good way for me to start out the year and a good week overall for this team," added Lowe, a junior from Calgary, Alberta. "I think we can look forward to competing in just about every event going forward, so that is a great feeling - especially having it going as a team so early in the year."

The Broncos will now prepare to host the 3rd-annual Cabo Collegiate at Querencia Golf Club in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico the weekend of Oct. 14-16.

FINAL INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
1 Ben Geyer - St. Mary's (CA) 75 72 65 212 -4
T2 Scott Lowe - Santa Clara 72 70 71 213 -3
T2 Jobim Carlos* - San Francisco 70 73 70 213 -3
T4 Ryan Williams - Sacramento State 72 68 74 214 -2
T4 J.T. Poston - Western Carolina 76 66 72 214 -2
T6 Mac McClung - St. Mary's (CA) 70 72 73 215 -1
T6 Stephen Powers - Kentucky 80 66 69 215 -1
T8 Nate Jessup - Fresno State 74 68 74 216 E
T8 David Snyder - Kentucky 74 70 72 216 E
T10 Sulman Raza - Oregon 72 74 71 217 +1
T10 Tyler Parker - Oregon 76 68 73 217 +1
T10 Kyle Wilson - Western Carolina 75 73 69 217 +1

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1 St. Mary's (CA) 290 285 285 860 -4
2 Kentucky 305 282 280 867 +3
3 Oregon 296 287 291 874 +10
4 Fresno State 289 288 301 878 +14
5 Santa Clara 301 287 294 882 +18
6 Western Carolina 303 292 290 885 +21
7 San Francisco 304 290 297 891 +27
8 Sacramento State 315 290 292 897 +33
T9 UC Irvine 301 299 303 903 +39
T9 Kansas State 313 294 296 903 +39
11 Loyola Marymount 307 298 302 907 +43
12 Samford 304 305 299 908 +44
13 Cal Poly 304 307 303 914 +50
14 CSU Northridge 309 302 312 923 +59
15 Florida Gulf Coast 306 315 306 927 +63

SANTA CLARA RESULTS
5 Santa Clara +18 301 287 294 882
T2 Scott Lowe -3 72 70 71 213
T20 Carlos Briones +4 74 73 73 220
T22 Martin Keskari +5 77 70 74 221
T42 Drew Miller +12 78 74 76 228
T61 Bobby Monaco +16 78 75 79 232
T76 Brett Komoto* 85 77 76 238

*Played as an individual

2012 St. Mary's Invitational
Dates (Site): Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 24-25, 2012 (Seaside, Calif.)
Host: St. Mary's College
*Field (15-teams): Oregon (7), St. Mary's (35), San Francisco (52), Kentucky (77), Florida Gulf Coast (82), Sacramento State (84), Kansas State (107), Samford (112), Loyola Marymount (113), UC Irvine (127), Fresno State (143), Cal Poly (152), Western Carolina (183), CSU Northridge (196), Santa Clara (203)
Details: 54-hole medal play. 36 holes played Monday and the final 18 holes played Tuesday. First-round tee times begin via a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Monday on each course. Final round play Tuesday gets underway at 8 a.m. on Bayonet GC.
Course(s): Bayonet and Blackhorse Golf Courses
Bayonet GC
Yardage/Par: 7,104-yards/Par 72
Blackhorse GC
Yardage/Par: 7,024-yards/Par 72
Course Website: Bayonetblackhorse.com
Course Number: (831) 899-7271
Live Scoring: GolfStat.com