March 13, 2012
Final Results
Photo Gallery 
CHOUDRANT, La. - Three Louisiana Tech golfers finished in the top 10 to lead the Bulldogs to a second-place finish at the 2012 Argent Financial Classic held at Squire Creek Country Club which wrapped up play on Tuesday.
Cody Blankenship, Sam Forgan and Cody Santone all finished the three-round event in red numbers as the Bulldogs fought off a late rally from 46th ranked Middle Tennessee during Tuesday's final round. Only 20th ranked LSU defeated the Bulldogs, who entered the event ranked 75th in the country.
Tech entered the final 18 holes trailing the Tigers by six strokes, but head coach Jeff Parks Bulldogs put pressure on LSU during the front nine - getting as low as eight-under-par for the round as a team. However, LSU wouldn't fold and Tech dropped some strokes down the stretch and finished seven strokes behind the Tigers.
Forgan (71-74-70=215) and Santone (72-73-70=215) both fired two-under-par 70s on Tuesday and finished tied for ninth place out of 56 competitors with a tournament total of one-under-par 215. Blankenship (71-71-72=214) shot even par on Tuesday and finished tied for sixth overall with 214.
Patrick Blunt (74-76-73=223, T29th) and Travis Wilmore (75-76-73=224, 31st) both posted solid rounds on Tuesday as well, shooting one-over-par 73.
As a team, Tech shot three-under-par 285 for the day which trailed only Middle Tennessee (283) and LSU (284). For the tournament, the Tigers won with a three-round total of four-under-par 860 followed by LA Tech (867), Middle Tennessee (870), Jacksonville State (880), Southern Miss (882), UALR (885), Missouri State (892), UTSA (892) and Rice (909).
Middle Tennessee's Hunter Green won the event after firing a final round six-under-par 66 to finish the 54 holes at five-under-par 211, one stroke in front of teammate Brad Simons and LSU individual competitor Smylie Kaufman.
Jonathan Bale, Jack Lempke and Chandler Vilcheck all competed as individuals in the event. Bale (74-72-71=217) finished tied for 15th while Lempke (76-76-78=230) finished 45th and Vilcheck (84-83-77=244) finished 56th.
The Bulldogs return to action this weekend when the compete in the Border Olympics hosted by Houston.
