Western Athletic Conference Divots:
Three of the nine WAC golf teams were in action last week. SMU and Tulsa played in the rain soaked Lousina Golf Classic, while weather was a factor as Rice played in Florida.
Even the rain couldn't stop SMU from playing a impressive rounds of golf at the Louisiana Golf Classic in Lafayette, La. March 12-14. Before the second round of the tournament was canceled due to inclement weather, the No. 51 Mustangs made the most of the first round, firing a 5-under-par 283 to trail Tennessee by four strokes.
Driving the greens for a front-nine 33, sophomore Brock Mulder went on to card a 3-under-par 69. One shot back in fifth was Jerome Theunis who carded a 2-under-par 70, while senior Franklin Hatchett, ranked 39th by Golfstat, shot a 1-under-par 71. Round two was cancelled but play resumed March 14.
The Mustangs finished the tournament with an even-par 576 score, four strokes off the pace maintained by Tennessee. Franklin Hatchett settled into a four-way tie in fifth-place with rounds of 71-71--142. Cooling off after his first-round 69, Mulder shot a 2-over-par 74 to tie with Theunis (70-73--143) for ninth.
Other than its dominate victory at the Stonebridge Classic in September, the Lousiana Classic was SMU's best finish since then.
Tulsa, the second-highest rated WAC team at No. 37, was led by David Inglis who captured his fourth consecutive top-five finish with rounds of 71-71--142 to tie with Hatchett and two others. Coming off his first collegiate medalist performance at the LSU Spring Invite the week before, Inglis led the Hurricane to seventh out of 15 clubs. Three shots back of Inglis was teammate Kevin Henry in a lock for 15th place. Having carded rounds of 72-73--145, Henry bettered his previous best season performance, a 17th place finish in the fall.
Facing similar weather setbacks, Rice squeezed in two rounds to finish 11th in a field of 24 at the El Diablo Intercollegiate in Florida last week. Freshman Scott Philips claimed his first collegiate title after opening with a low-round 68 and following with a 72 in the second. Philips, twice a WAC Golfer of the Week this season, is Rices first medalist since Drew conrad won the Border Olympics in April 2000.