ONEONTA, Ala. – The Louisiana Tech Golf team set a new 54-hole record of 841, shattering the previous record by four strokes, as the Bulldogs came in fifth on Tuesday at the GMAC Invitational.
 
Also setting a program record was sophomore Niilo Maki-Petaja who finished with a 54-hole total of 202 (-14) at the Limestone Springs Golf Club, tying the Bulldog record that was set back in 2017 by Felix Paalson.
 
Maki-Petaja ended up tying for second at the event, climbing two spots on the player leaderboard after firing a 67 (-5).  His one blemish on the Tuesday scoreboard was a bogey on the par 4 No. 10.  The rest was made up of 11 pars and six birdies, one of which came on the finishing hole No. 18 that put him atop the leaderboard at that point.
 
Sophomore Jake Plumb ended up recording his best 54-hole score, shooting under par in all three rounds including a 71 (-1) to finish up the invitational (70-70-71=211).  He tied for 14th as an individual, marking his second career top-20 finish.
 
Despite not using his 73 (+1) in round three, freshman Morton Bailey also claimed a top-20 finish by tying for 18th (70-69-73=212). 
 
Fellow freshman Freddie Surgey registered a season-low 69, the second-best round of the day for LA Tech, after shooting 35 on the front and 34 on the back.  Also shooting a season-low round was Joel Thomas Stephens who birdied two of his last three holes to shoot 72 (E).
 
North Alabama and ULM were co-champions of the event. 

QUOTABLES
Head coach Matt Terry

"The guys played really solid this week. We had a few mistakes here and there, but I was really proud of how we got better every day and every guy on the team contributed. It basically came down to No. 11 and No. 16, a couple of par fives on the back that we did not take advantage of. That was probably the difference in us up there near the top and where we finished, but those are things that are going to happen from time to time at tournaments." 
 
NOTABLES

• LA Tech shot 841 (-23) for the three-day event, setting a new 54-hole program record (previous record was 845 set at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate in 2015).
• LA Tech shot a season-low 279 (-9) in the third and final round, tied for the 7th lowest round in program history (lowest since the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate in 2022).
• The Bulldogs shot 280 or better in back-to-back rounds for the first time in school history (280 in round two and 279 in round three).
• Sophomore Niilo Maki-Petaja tied the 54-hole program record for a Bulldog at 202 (-14), tying Felix Paalson's 202 set in 2017.
• Sophomore Niilo Maki-Petaja registered his fifth top-5 finish of his career, all coming over his last 10 events.  It also marked his seventh top-15 finish over his last 10 events.
• Sophomore Niilo Maki-Petaja became just the second Bulldog in program history to shoot 67 or better in back-to-back rounds (Felix Paalson, 2017).
• Sophomore Jake Plumb registered his second career top-20 finish, tying for 14th as an individual.  He also set his personal best 54-hole score as a Bulldog.
• Freshman Morton Bailey recorded his first career top-20 finish, tying for 18th as an individual.
• Freshman Freddie Surgey and redshirt junior Joel Thomas Stephens each set a season-best low round on day three, shooting 69 and 72, respectively.

UP NEXT
LA Tech will return to action Oct. 6-8 at the Trinity Forest Invitational, hosted by SMU in Dallas, Texas.
 
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