Men's
golf team wraps up fall season
By
Michael Bower
Online Forty-Niner
Sports Editor
The men's golf team wrapped up its fall
season with a third-place finish in the
Del Walker Intercollegiate at the Virginia
Country Club in Long Beach on Friday.
The
49ers tied with UC Irvine for third place
with an 866 as junior Ryan Panichpakdee
and teammate Ryan Wood tied for 12th place
with a four-over-par 217. Jeremy Keller
tied for 14th place with a total of 218
while Nick Badel tied for 20th with a
220.
Panichpakdee
transferred from Long Beach City College
where he helped lead the Vikings to back-to-back
conference championships.
"[Panichpakdee]
has been a great consistent performer
and has a great attitude and has been
a wonderful addition to our team,"
Head Coach Bob Livingstone said.
The
49ers played solid golf in the first round
as they opened the tournament shooting
an impressive 283, but fumbled in the
second round to shoot a 298, which moved
them from second place to third place
going into the final round. The 49ers
rebounded from the second-round disaster
to shoot a 285 in the final round.
49er
James Logeman was tied for fourth place
after two rounds with a 142, but sunk
to 24th after a couple of bad breaks in
the final round.
"[Logeman]
had two bad holes," Livingstone said.
"One because the ball had a big clump
of mud and he played for the mud to affect
his ball, but it affected it about three
times more than he thought it would."
Lamar
won the team title with an 862 as Denver
took second place with an 865.
The
49ers had one of their best outings in
their last fall tournament, which gave
Livingstone something to smile about —
especially after the 15th place finish
in the Alister MacKenzie Invitational
in Northern California.
"Overall,
I was really pleased with how we played
[Friday]," he said. "The course
was set up tough and we were only one
over par. We were able to catch UC Irvine,
so we didn't lose to anyone in our district.
What can you say about Lamar. This is
their third tournament win this fall.
This was the best we have played this
semester, so I believe the players can
use this as a springboard to work hard
and get ready for the spring."
The
individual title went to Denver's Barrett
Jarosch who shot a four-under-par 209,
including a six-under-par 65 in the third
round to come from a 14th place tie to
tournament champion.
The
49ers have played most of the fall season
without Todd Saukkola, one of their top
players. Saukkola has played in just two
tournaments in the fall before being forced
to the sideline due to sickness.
"It's
been tough because one of our better players
has been out the whole semester,"
said Livingstone, who added the 49ers
are probably ranked 15th in the district
right now, and need to be in the top 12
in order to make the playoffs in the spring.
The
spring season won't begin until Feb. 7
when the 49ers will travel to Arizona
to participate in the Ping-Arizona Intercollegiate.
The
team will have a six-round qualifying
tournament on Jan. 18, which will decide
the five players who will participate
in the spring tournaments.
