March 29, 2011
LITTLE ROCK - Jonathan Bale shot a three-round total of 225 to lead the Louisiana Tech Bulldog golf team to a 9th place finish at the UALR/First Tee Classic held at Chenal Country Club Monday and Tuesday.
Although the Bulldogs shot a third round team total of 307, it was still seven strokes better than the 17-team field average (314) for the round as cold temperatures, rain and wind played havoc on the competitors.
The field of 92 competitors averaged a 78.4 stroke per round for Tuesday's final round, three full strokes worse than Monday's rounds. The Bulldogs shot an opening round of 296 on Monday but then came back with a second round of 303, the third highest in the field.
"We lost ground on the field during yesterday's second round," said Tech head coach Jeff Parks. "We weren't competitive during that round. We were only five shots off the lead after the first round and could have very easily gotten that back. The second round was where we fell down significantly in the standings for the tournament."
In addition to Bale's performance which tied for 23rd and included rounds of 75, 74 and 76, the Bulldogs were also represented by Cody Santone (74-76-78=228, T35th), Clinton Shepard (74-79-75=228, T35th), Patrick Blunt (76-75-78=229, T40th) and Sam Forgan (73-78-81=232, T58th).
"Ole Miss is coming up next week," Parks said. "They will have probably the strongest field we will face this year. It will be a good time to bounce back from this week. We have eight guys who could qualify to play so we will have to see who emerges this week. There hasn't been a lot of separation on the team which is good in a way. We just have to continue to work hard and improve as we get closer to the WAC Championships in May."
Missouri won the event as the Tigers shot a team total of 882, followed by Southern Miss (890), Louisville (890), UALR (890), Central Arkansas (896), Southeastern (899), Missouri State (902), Louisiana-Lafayette (904), LA Tech (906), Oral Roberts (907), Arkansas State (909), Iowa State (916), UL-Monroe (916), Illinois State (916), UMKC (918), Sam Houston (919) and Western Kentucky (941).
Missouri's Jace Long captured the individual competition with a six-under-par 210.
