UL fifth after Sun Belt Tournament first round
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Cajuns only one stroke out of third, 11 back of front-running Middle Tennessee
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – UL’s golf team couldn’t boast an exceptionally low individual score Monday in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and coach Theo Sliman wasn’t disappointed in that.
Instead, Sliman was happy with the consistency the Ragin’ Cajuns showed in their first trip around The Shoals’ 7,171-yard “Fighting Joe” layout, a trip that has them in fifth place after the first 18 holes – but only one stroke out of third place and 11 out of the lead.
“We had good consistency from top to bottom,” said Sliman after his team’s nine-over-par 297. “To me, I’m proud of that for the first day. Now if each player can clean that up just a little bit and we get some putts to fall, we can make a pretty good move.”
The Cajuns and front-running Middle Tennessee were the only teams to have all four counting scores rank in the top 25 on the first day. Middle, ranked 41st nationally entering the league meet, posted a two-under 286 score Monday and leads runner-up North Texas by five shots. South Alabama and New Orleans are five more shots back at 296, each one stroke ahead of the Cajuns entering Tuesday’s second of three rounds.
Philipp Fendt had a one-over 73 to lead the balanced Cajuns and stand tied for 10th individually, with Thomas Disch at 74 and tied for 16th, and both Andrew Noto and Kyle Pritchard at 75 and tied for 22nd in the 60-player field. Mark Brockhurst finished at five-over 77 for the non-counting score Monday.
“All those guys looked very confident,” Sliman said. “Kyle is the only guy that’s seen this course from when we played here two years ago, so he’s got a lot of confidence here. He had a great ball striking round and hit 16 greens, but just had some putts that didn’t fall … some putts that would have been real momentum changers for him.
“Philipp struck it well all day and could have scored a lot better. Andrew struggled with his ball striking, but he battled back and played the last four holes one-under and that really helped our team score.”
North Texas’ Carlos Ortiz, a true freshman, was the only big success story Monday over the wind-blown Shoals layout. Despite the 20-to-25 mile per hour winds, Ortiz blazed to an eight-under 64 and shot eight-under over the final 12 holes. No one else in the field was closer than six shots to the leader and only six players broke par.
Kent Bulle and Craig Smith of MTSU were both at two-under 70 along with Nick Wilson of UL Monroe.
The second round is scheduled for 8 a.m. Tuesday with the teams playing a final 18 holes on Wednesday. The tournament winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAATournament.
SUN BELT CONFERENCE GOLF TOURNAMENT
FIRST ROUND SCORES
TEAM
1. Middle Tennessee 286
2. North Texas 291
3. New Orleans 296
3. South Alabama 296
5. UL Lafayette 297
6. Western Kentucky 298
7. UL Monroe 302
8. Arkansas State 303
9. Florida Atlantic 305
10. UALR 308
10. Denver 308
12. Troy 312
INDIVIDUAL
1. Carlos Ortiz, UNT 64
2. Kent Bulle, MT 70
2. Craig Smith, MT 70
2. Nick Wilson, ULM 70
5. Alex Yost, WKU 71
5. Oscar Zetterwall, UNO 71
7. Troy Anderson, DU 72
7. Rodolfo Cazaubon, UNT 72
7. Chris Plummelli, USA 72
10. Philipp Fendt, UL 73
10. Marc-Ettienne Bussieres, USA 73
10. Hunter Green, MT 73
10. Jack Hiluta, USA 73
10. Carl McCauley, FAU 73
10. Jason Millard, MT 73
16. Thomas Disch, UL 74
16. Richard Casko, Troy 74
16. Andrew Heiser, WKU 74
16. Ken Looper, UNO 74
16. Michael Oates, ULM 74
16. Brad Simons, MT 74
22. Andrew Noto, UL 75
22. Kyle Pritchard, UL 75
22. Doug Kleeschulte, WKU 75
22. Kell Shenep, ASU 75
22. Sebastian Szimak, UNO 75
27. Hector Arias, UNO 76
27. Peter Fallon, UNT 76
27. Linus Gillgren, UALR 76
27. Espen Kofstad, DU 76
27. Klinton Krieger, DU 76
27. Chris Pledger, ASU 76
27. Lloyd du Preez, ASU 76
27. Ben Silverman, FAU 76
27. Wessel Zwiegers, ASU 76
36. Mark Brockhurst, UL 77
36. Nicklaus Benton, UALR 77
36. Reid Merritt, Troy 77
36. Dylan Raines, UALR 77
40. Michael Baskovich, FAU 78
40. Sebastian Gunnarsson, UALR 78
40. Neil Horsley, WKU 78
40. McLain Leberle, USA 78
40. Kelly McHugh, FAU 78
45. Jeremy Cross, ULM 79
45. Justin Eaves, Troy 79
45. Blake Kelley, USA 79
45. Adam McCleary, ULM 79
45. Marco Scarola, UNT 79
45. Tyler Thompson, ASU 79
51. Dustin Thompson, UNT 80
52. Felipe Velazquez, UALR 81
53. Justin Thompson, FAU 82
53. Rourke Van Der Spuy, Troy 82
55. Derek East, UNO 83
55. Zachary Portemont, Troy 83
55. James Searson, ULM 83
58. Jon Lopez, DU 84
59. Kevin Gillick, DU 87
60. Logan Edelen, WKU 92
