Feb. 26, 2008
Newport Beach, Calif. -
An exciting third round playoff win by Scott Travers kept the Broncos alive as the Santa Clara men's golf team finished first out ten competing schools at the UC Irvine Anteater Classic. Travers finished the final round at an even par. The Broncos shot a team score of 857 (-7) after all three rounds to win by four strokes.
Travers went into the third round with a four stroke lead, which was just enough to force a playoff after shooting an even par in the third round. Travers' familiarity of the course translated to a higher level of playing on the course.
"I have a lot of local knowledge, having grown up on the course. I just tried to let go of scoring thoughts and played one shot at a time," said Travers. It came down to playing one shot at a time during the playoff, as Travers scrambled to par the first two holes and then sunk a 30 foot putt on the third hole for the win. "It was pretty cool. I've never made a putt that long to win a tournament," he said.
Coach Rob Miller was pleased with his players' strong performance from the first tee, "We got off to a good start really right off the bat in the first round," said Miller.
The Broncos finished with four players in the top 11: Scott Travers, Jimmy Cacho, Alex Bon, and Tim Lynch. Jimmy Cacho finished with an overall score of 213 (-3) which was good for a 4th place finish. Alex Bon shot 219 (+3) putting him in the 10th place spot. Tim Lynch finished with a 220 (+4), which put him right behind Bon in 11th place.
The Broncos entered the final round leading, but faced pressure from behind throughout the tournament, Miller explained, "We had the low score of the first round, but it was pretty close. There were four teams in the field that we thought were pretty good: LMU, Irvine, us, and Portland. After first round we were all within three strokes."
This tournament had the Broncos playing more determined and at a higher level, said Travers, "We came down here ready to play, we thought we were the best team in the field and we went out there and proved it."
The Broncos tee off again on March 11th in Fresno, Calif. for the Fresno State Golf Classic.
