Golf swings back into Top 10 with solid round

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After a rough opening round this past Monday, the GCSU golf team bounced back the following day, climbing eight spots to finish sixth at the AFLAC Cougar Invitational in Columbus.

The Bobcats finished with an overall even-par 284, an 11-stroke improvement over the opening day. The finish was good enough for second among Peach Belt Conference teams at the event.

Junior Joe Young garnered his third top-10 finish in four tournaments this season. Young fired a final round three-under 68, after his opening round of 73, to finish in a tie for sixth with an overall 141.

Senior Francisco Bide was next for the Bobcats, shooting an even-par 71 in the final round to finish with a four-over 146 to finish tied for 43rd. Junior Billy Shida and redshirt freshman Taylor Smith tied for 52nd place, as both shot a total of 147. Smith shot an even par 71 on the final day, while Shida put a 74 on the board.

“We didn’t play too well this week,” Shida said. “But we bounced back (Tuesday) and managed a respectable finish.”

Three-time All-American, senior Niclas Johansson, had a six-over 77 to finish with an overall 151, tied for 77th overall.

“(Johansson) is our spark. He’s the guy that really makes us go, but we all had a tough tournament,” Shida said. “And (Young) did a great job for us. He’s a fighter out there, and he’s never going to quit.”

The Bobcats had to battle a wet course most of the tournament, particularly on Monday.

“The weather conditions were fine for scoring,” Shida said. “The fact that the course was so wet just made it tough on us, but we can’t use that as an excuse.”

“It just wasn’t our week. We never could get anything going in the right direction,” Shida added. “We would tap the gas to go, but we seemed to hit the brakes a few holes later.”

Third ranked Barry University (Fla.) took the team title, finishing with a 278 in the final round, making them the only team to shoot lower than the Bobcats on the tournament’s final day.

Craig Gibson of Georgia Southwestern State University took the individual title by shooting an overall 137.

The Bobcats will be back in action Oct. 19-20 when they travel to Savannah to play in Georgia Southern University’s Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate Tournament. The tournament will be the final event for the Bobcats during the fall season.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 9 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry