Wake Forest University
The US Collegiate
Deacons Finish Third at US Collegiate Championship
10/20/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Oct. 20, 2013
By Gary Petit, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMGolf)
ALPHARETTA, Ga. - The Wake Forest men's golf team capped the fall portion its schedule with a solid third place finish at the US Collegiate Championship on Sunday.
The Demon Deacons carded a second-straight round of even-par 288 and finished the 54-hole event at 2-under par. Oklahoma State held-off host Georgia Tech down the stretch to win the event by one shot over the Yellow Jackets at 15-under par.
Coupled with last weekend's 8-under par finish at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate, the Demon Deacons finished back-to-back events under-par for the first time since the first two events of the 2010-11 season.
"We're a young team but we showed a lot of heart today and to finish third in this field is great," said Wake Forest head coach Jerry Haas. "We started out hot and spiked at 9-under par and then had a couple of big numbers that hurt our momentum. But the guys hung in there and played the last few holes under-par to get back to even-par."
"The last two weekends were big weekends for these guys," Haas continued. "We were playing in two strong fields and I thought the guys played very well. We still have some things to work on but I thought we took a lot of confidence from these two weeks."
Individually, freshman Danny Guise and senior Thomas Birdsey each finished the fall strong. Guise came home in 4-under 32 on Sunday to card his second-straight 2-under 70 and finished tied for 4th at 4-under par. Birdsey birdied two of his final four holes to finish the weekend with three rounds of 1-under 71. He finished in a tie for 10th at 3-under.
Birdsey capped the fall with six-straight under-par rounds and led the team with two top-10s and a 71.54 scoring average. Guise didn't card an over-par round over the last two events and has a 72.31 average through his first four career tournaments.
"With a young team, you need a good leader at the top and Thomas (Birdsey) is stepping up," Haas said. "He has gotten his wedge game going and is playing with a lot of confidence."
Freshman Clancy Waugh came out of the gate on fire Sunday, making four birdies in the first six holes. He then pared the next nine holes before finishing with a 3-under 69. That was his fifth round this season at par or better and he finished the tournament tied for 29th at 1-over par.
Sophomore Davis Womble carded a final round 78 and junior Cyrus Stewart posted a 9-over 81. Womble finished tied for 50th at 8-over while Stewart with 14-over and tied for 73rd.
Georgia Tech's Ollie Schniederjans led wire-to-wire to claim medalist honors at 10-under par. He won by four shots over Virginia's Ben Rusch.
The Demon Deacons have concluded the fall portion of their schedule and will get back to action at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate on Feb. 17, 2014.
The U.S. Collegiate ChampionshipGolf Club of GeorgiaAlpharetta, Ga.
Pl. Team R1 R2 R3 Tot 1 Oklahoma State 284 281 284 849 (-15)2 Georgia Tech 279 287 284 850 (-14)3 Wake Forest 286 288 288 862 (-2)4 Virginia 285 290 288 863 (-1)5 UCLA 286 287 291 864 (E) Texas A&M 285 292 287 864 (E)7 Iowa 287 287 292 866 (+2) Stanford 288 288 290 866 (+2)9 Southern Cal 290 289 290 869 (+5)10 Washington 294 287 293 874 (+10)11 Auburn 297 285 296 878 (+14) ETSU 294 290 294 878 (+14)13 Kent State 296 295 290 881 (+17)14 Duke 291 297 298 886 (+22)15 Clemson 299 293 296 888 (+24)
Top-5 Individuals1 Ollie Schniederjans (GT)66 69 71 206 (-10)2 Ben Rusch (UVA) 66 74 70 210 (-6)3 Andres Albertson (GT) 70 70 71 211 (-5)4 Six tied 212 (-4)
Wake Forest Individuals4 Danny Guise 72 70 70 212 (-4)10 Thomas Birdsey 71 71 71 213 (-3)29 Clancy Waugh 73 75 69 217 (+1)50 Davis Womble 70 76 78 224 (+8)73 Cyrus Stewart 77 72 81 230 (+14)
Players Mentioned
