Upstate Finishes 11th At Hawks Invitational
9/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 30, 2008
North Falmouth, Mass. - The USC Upstate men's golf team rebounded by cutting 10 strokes off of its score from Monday to shoot a 296 in the final round Tuesday and move up two spots in the standings at the Hartford Hawks Invitational at Ballymeade Country Club on Cape Cod.
The weather and course conditions were much improved over Monday's first round as nearly every team improved its score from the first round to the final round Tuesday. That was exactly the case for Upstate as the Spartans got strong play from Josh Gallman and all five players turned in scores in the 70s as the Spartans recorded the 296 team score. Upstate finished the tournament in 11th place with a 602 tournament total, finishing two strokes back of Cal Poly for a top-10 finish.
Baylor continued to show it is one of the top programs in the country, winning the tournament with a 10-under 566 total after shooting 6-under (282) Tuesday. N.C. State finished second with a 576 total and was followed in the top-10 by Georgia State (581), TCU (584), Sacramento State (589), Rhode Island (590), Mercer (591), SMU (594), William & Mary (596) and Cal Poly (600). Upstate finished 11th and was three strokes better than Rutgers in 12th place.
Six of the 23 teams in the field played in the NCAA Regionals last year with N.C. State, SMU and Georgia State participating in the NCAA East Regional and TCU, Baylor and Loyola playing in the NCAA Central Regional.
Gallman had a tremendous outing for Upstate Tuesday, finishing the round with a 2-under 70 to finish at even-par for the tournament and in a tie for ninth. It marked his 19th career top-10 finish, including 13 in NCAA Division I.
"Josh had a shaky day yesterday, but did not make any high numbers and still shot a 74," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "Today, he goes out and shoots 16 pars and two birdies for a 70. It was a typical Josh performance and I sure am glad we have him on our team."
Michael Lawrence shot a 77 Tuesday to finish in a tie for 42nd with a 150 total. Tyler Tucker shaved five strokes off of his first round score to card a 74 Tuesday and finished with a 153 total and in a tie for 57th. Baxter Culler rebounded from an 81 Monday to shoot 75 Tuesday to help the Spartan cause. He finished the tournament with a 156 total and in a tie for 76th. Bryan Otis shot 79 Tuesday and finished the tournament with a 159 total.
"I am proud that the team came back and shot well today," said Lawton. "We moved up which was a positive. This was such a tough field and a tough tournament. I think all of the guys will tell you that this was a very good experience, a learning experience."
N.C. State's Matt Hill turned in a tremendous tournament, shooting rounds of 66 and 65 to finish the tournament 13-under to claim the tournament title. Baylor's Colton Williams finished second with a 4-under 140 total.
