Sept. 22, 2010
RUSTON - After opening the season with a pair of top 4 finishes in their first two events of the year, the Louisiana Tech Bulldog golf team earned its highest recorded ranking ever today as Jeff Parks squad is ranked 59th this week by Golfstat.com.
The previous highest ranking was 98th accomplished twice in the past 20 years. Tech, which is 25-5-1 through two tournaments this fall, is the second highest ranked Western Athletic Conference team (trailing only 43rd ranked San Jose State) and the third highest ranked team in the state behind 20th ranked LSU and 49th ranked Southeastern Louisiana.
"It's a team effort whether the guys are in the van or not," Parks said. "We have a lot of guys who can play. I'm proud of what we have accomplished so far, but we have a long way to go. We hope to continue our success. It's great from where we have come, but 59th is not where we ultimately want to be."
Tech wrapped up a third place finish yesterday at the 2010 UTA/Waterchase Invitational when the Bulldogs fired a third and final round team total of two-under-par 286, the second best round of the day among the 18 teams. This was the best team finish for Tech since winning the 2007 Hal Sutton Intercollegiate.
In the showing in Ft. Worth, Tech saw all five of its competitors record at least one round under par led by Clinton Shepard's opening round 68 and Hayden Stephen's final round 69. Shepard finished tied for seventh while Cody Santone tied for 18th as Tech defeated seven teams ranked in the Top 100 in the event.
The impressive showing came one week after Parks and Co. finished tied for fourth at the 15-team Sam Hall Intercollegiate in Hattiesburg. In that event sophomore Sam Forgan tied for fifth while true freshman Jack Lempke tied for 20th in his first collegiate event.
Tech's depth has been the key to its success this season as the Bulldogs have shot in the red numbers in four of its six rounds to date. To put that into perspective, since 1993-94, only three LA Tech teams have recorded four or more rounds under par in the entire season (fall and spring) with the 2006-07 Bulldog team holding the mark with seven.
The Bulldogs return to action Oct. 4-5 when they host the Squire Creek Invitational in Choudrant.
