SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The North Dakota State men's golf team and senior
Jack Johnson claimed the team title and medalist honors at the UC San Diego Invitational hosted at Torrey Pines Golf Course Tuesday afternoon.
The Bison put together a tournament best round of 280 (-8) on the final day to pull away from the field and win by nine shots over Idaho. NDSU finished the event at -7, while Idaho took second in the 17-team field at +2 and Oklahoma Christian took third at +4. The Bison shot 293 in the first round and a 284 in the second round.
Johnson, who fired a 68 on Monday to move into a tie for the lead with Johannes Houndsgaard of Idaho, came back in the final round and posted six birdies and just one bogey to shoot a 67 (-5) and pull away from Houndsgaard to claim the medalist honors, winning by three strokes after finishing at -8 for the three-round event.
Johnson had three-straight birdies on holes 5-7 on the front nine and added three more birdies on the back nine before a bogey on his final hole. Johnson finished the 54-hole event with 13 birdies and an eagle.
Ian Simonich and
Nate Adams each carded final rounds of 70 to move up the leaderboards on the final day. Simonich had six birdies in his round and moved up to sixth, finishing the event at -1. Adams carded four birdies, including three straight on holes 10-12, to move up to a tie for 7
th at +1.
Joining Adams in a tie for seventh was
Josh Galvin, who played as an individual. Galvin carded five birdies and just one bogey in the final round to shoot a 68 (-4) and move up 26 spots to put four Bison in the top 10 in a 107-golfer field.
Jake Skarperud closed out the scoring for the Bison on Tuesday with a 73 (+1) in the final round. Skarperud wrapped up the event at +4, finishing in a tie for 24
th.
Gavin Cronkhite shot a 74 on the final day and finished at +7 in a tie for 46
th.
The victory is a second-straight team win this spring for the Bison after claiming the Loyola Intercollegiate at the end of February. It is also the second-straight event that NDSU has claimed the medalist honors.
The Bison will return to action in mid-April with the first of two events in a week in Ohio. The Bison will play at the Highland Meadows Intercollegiate in Sylvania, Ohio on April 15-16 before playing in Ohio State's Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State's course in Columbus, Ohio April 19-21.
