Willamette Men's Golf Team Wins Collegiate Open by Eight Strokes

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communication

DuPONT, Wash. -- Willamette University shot 288 in the second round on Monday, Sept. 18 to win the team championship by eight strokes at the 2017 Collegiate Open, as the tournament concluded at The Home Course. The Bearcats, who earned a score of 289 in the first round on Sunday, finished with a 36-hole score of 1-over-par 577. Host team Pacific Lutheran University, which shot the low round of the tournament on Monday with a 286, took second place at 585. North Idaho College, which held a two-stroke lead over Willamette after shooting 287 in the first round, placed third at 587.

"The guys played great," Willamette Head Coach Patrick Daugherty said. "I was really impressed with our upperclassmen and the way they kept their composure. They were great leaders. I really think it helped our underclassmen and took some pressure off of them."

Mac Turner from University of Puget Sound won the individual title with a score of 8-under-par 136. He shot 68-68 and was the only golfer under 70 in both rounds. Mitchell Baldridge of PLU was second overall at 137 (70-67). Baldridge's 67 on Monday was the low round of the tournament. Jake Larson from Community Colleges of Spokane carded a score of 141 (69-72) for third place.

Kenneth Sheldon (Jr., Ocean Park, WA/Ilwaco HS) of Willamette shot 142 (69-73) to finish in fourth. Willamette teammates Ben Graham (Fr., Renton, WA/Liberty HS) and Trent Jones (Jr., Kenmore, WA/Shorecrest HS) each shot 72-72 to tie three other golfers for fifth place at 144. Also tying for fifth were Southwestern Oregon Community College athletes Kobie Lockwood (70-74), Gerry Snyder (73-71) and Joel Snyder (73-71).

Ryan Pearson from Pacific Luthean and Walter Sherry from Linfield tied for 10th place at 145. Pearson carded scores of 73 and 72, while Sherry shot 75 and 70. A total of 79 golfers competed in the tournament.

"This was a really good field, one of the better tournaments we've started with, so this was a very good win," Daugherty said.

In addition to Sheldon, Graham and Jones, three other Bearcats competed in both rounds of the tournament. Sam Hinton (So., Seaside, OR/Seaside HS) shot a 1-under-par 71 in the second round to tie for 16th place at 147 after carding a score of 76 in the first round. Mason Phalen (Fr., Kenmore, WA/Inglemoor HS) shot 156 on back-to-back rounds of 78. Dylan King (Jr., Cottonwood, CA/West Valley HS) finished at 179 (89-90). Spencer Hong (Sr., Bellevue, WA/Singapore American School) competed on Sunday, but had to withdraw from the tournament on Monday.

Following Willamette's 577 (289-288), Pacific Lutheran's 585 (299-286) and North Idaho's 587 (287-300) was a score of 589 for Southwestern Oregon (293-296) in fourth place. Community College of Spokane (Wash.) placed fifth at 594 (298-296). Whitworth University took sixth at 597 (296-301), with Pacific Lutheran's "B" team in seventh at 600 (302-298) and Linfield College in eighth at 606 (302-304).

Grays Harbor College (Wash.) and University of Puget Sound tied for ninth at 617. Grays Harbor shot 314-303 and Puget Sound carded 308-309. Whitman College placed 11th at 633 (315-318), Pacific University was 12th at 648 (318-330), Lewis & Clark College took 13th at 649 (325-324), and Columbia Basin College (Wash.) was 14th at 657 (332-325).