Bulldogs Finish Ninth at Home Event

Tuesday, September 12

Choudrant, LA

18 Holes

Louisiana Tech University

Argent Financial Classic

Held at Squire Creek Golf Club, Choudrant, La. Photo by TOM MORRIS/TomMorrisPhotos.com For Editorial Use only

Photo by: c.2023.TomMorrisPhotos.com

Bulldogs Finish Ninth at Home Event

9/12/2023 5:16:00 PM | Men's Golf

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By: Kane McGuire

CHOUDRANT, La. – Louisiana Tech got to within three shots of the lead around the midway point of the third round, but the Bulldogs struggled down the stretch to finish ninth Tuesday at the Argent Financial Classic at Squire Creek Country Club.

After a tough start on the front nine with five bogies on the first two holes, LA Tech started build momentum at the turn when three Bulldogs birdied the par five No. 9. However, they could not overcome a tough back nine to stay in contention.

Hunter Battles, Lake Juban, and Jake Plumb each shot 74 (+2) while Will Patrick and Niilo Maki-Petaja both shot 75 (+3) for the final round. Maki-Petaja ended up having the highest individual finish for LA Tech, tying for 23rd after shooting 70-71-75=216 (E) for his first collegiate tournament.

Fellow freshman, Plumb, tied for 33rd shooting 69-75-76=218 (+2) while Juban, Battles, and Riley Hnatyshyn tied for 39th (+3). Hnatyshyn, playing as an individual, had the best round three for the Bulldogs after carding a 71 (-1) with four birdies to help erase a triple on the par 3 No. 16.

Southern Miss ended up winning the event for a second straight year, outdueling UAB and UL-Lafayette in a three-team playoff as each team had a 54-hole total of 855 (-9).

QUOTABLES
Head coach Matt Terry

On round three…
"We got off to a bad start again. I am disappointed with how we played and how undisciplined we were. We did not show up for whatever reason. We played the par fives very poorly all week at our home event. You have to play those better when you have length like we do. We do have to consider that we only got beat by 11. The last nine holes were just not very good either."

UP NEXT
LA Tech will next participate in the GMAC Invitational hosted by UAB in Oneonta, Alabama. The three-day event gets underway on Sunday, Sept. 24.

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