Feb. 23, 2010
Scoring
NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana Tech sophomore Cody Santone was the top finisher for the Bulldog golf team at the Mardi Gras Classic hosted by UNO at TPC Louisiana Monday and Tuesday, tying for 25th with a three-round total of 225.
Santone shot a second round two-under-par 70, by far the best round of the event for the five members of head coach Jeff Parks team. As a team, Tech finished 11th in the 15-team event which included eight teams ranked in the Top 100 in the country.
"We've got some work to do in a number of areas," Parks said. "We definitely have to work on our short game. We are not on our competitor's level in that phase of the game by any means. We will continue to work and get better and better.
"This is the type of course where an errant shot can really cost you. If you can keep the ball in play, then you can score low. One little mistake gets compounded into a big mistake quickly. However, we played the same course as everyone else. We made some mistakes and got some big numbers out of it."
Santone (77-70-78), who ended the fall with the best average score for the Bulldogs, finished in a tie for 25th while teammate Matthew Harvey (74-77-75) was a stroke behind with a three-round total of 226 and tied for 29th.
Jonathan Bale (79-77-74=230), who finished in a tie for ninth place last week at the Rice Intercollegiate, finished tied for 43rd followed by Cody Blankenship (74-78-86=238) who was alone in 63rd and Joel Thelen (78-85-77=24) in a tie for 64th.
San Diego won the event with a three-round team total of 870 followed by North Carolina State (873), New Orleans (878), Troy (879), UALR (885), Wichita State (890), Southeastern Louisiana (891), Liberty (895), Campbell (900), Louisiana-Lafayette (905), LA Tech (909), UL-Monroe (922), Centenary (932), Austin Peay (947) and Nicholls State (955).
The Bulldogs return to the course March 15 and 16 when they host the Bulldog Classic at Squire Creek Golf Course in Choudrant.
"We have a couple of weeks before we host our tournament which will include some tough teams," Parks said. "We aren't starting; we are just continuing to learn. We will take some good things out of this week and continue to work on what we have to work on and get after it in two weeks."
