M. Golf

Two Teams Tied for First, Mocs in Third After Day One of Matlock Collegiate Classic

Case Gard is tied for second with a 137 (-7), just one stroke back of the lead.

LAKELAND – A little bit of a late start and near-freezing temperatures early Monday morning gave way to a pretty much perfect day for golf, and Barry and Florida Tech took full advantage of it.  The two Sunshine State Conference schools finished the first two rounds of the Matlock Collegiate Classic tied for first, while host Florida Southern was one of three schools tied for third just five strokes off the pace.

Scheduled for an 8:00 a.m. start, the first round got underway at 9:00 instead, but it didn’t seem to bother most of the 15 teams competing. Florida Tech had a team score of two-under par 286, Barry, Florida Southern and West Florida were only one over par, and two other teams were at +4 after the opening round. There were also 21 golfers at, or under par, the most for any first round in the Matlock tournament since 2003, when there were 24, with three additional teams playing.

Florida Tech had three of those golfers with a 72 or better, led by Christian Westhorpe’s four-under par 68. That was only enough to put him in third place, however, one stroke behind the first-round co-leaders Rourke Van der Spuy of Columbus State and Case Gard of Florida Southern. Westhorpe was one of three Panthers who were at 72 or better, and their fourth counter, Colin Flabbi, shot a 74.

Gard’s 67 was the best round by a Moccasin in the Matlock Classic in seven years, and included five birdies and one eagle on the par-five number two hole. It was Gard’s first hole of the day too, and the junior college transfer played so well, he was never worse than two-under for the rest of the round.

After that, the Moccasins counted a pair of 73’s from Tom Crouch and Shane Convery, while Peter Creighton shot a 76. That helped Florida Southern finish round one tied with Barry and defending Matlock champion West Florida for second place, three strokes behind Florida Tech. Gard’s 67 was two strokes better than the top golfers from the other schools Florida Southern was tied with, but the Buccaneers made up ground with their #4 golfer, and West Florida did the same at #2.

Columbus State and Armstrong Atlantic State were tied for fifth place, and were six strokes behind Florida Tech. The Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic had two of the seven golfers in round one who shot in the 60’s, but an 82 from their fourth counter drove them back down the standings.

In round two, Barry was able to catch Florida Tech with a one-under par 287, while the Panthers shot a 290. That left both schools with an even-par 576 at the end of the day, marking only the third time in the tournament’s 31-year history that two schools have shared the lead after two rounds. In neither of the other two cases did either team win the tournament.

For the second time in the last three years too, it’s a Barry golfer who has the individual lead after two rounds. The Bucs’ Marcue Segerstrom had scores of 69 and 67 on Monday to finish the day at eight-under par 136. He had a birdie or par on 35 of his 36 holes. Yet as strong as that score was, it was still only one stroke better than Gard’s seven-under 137 for Florida Southern. It’s the first time since 1995 two golfers have been at -7 or better after two rounds.

The best team round of the day went to Lynn, which had a score of four-under par 284 in the second round, vaulting the Knights from 11th place into the 3-way tie for third with Florida Southern and St. Edward’s (TX).

Gard followed his 67 in the morning with a 70 in the afternoon. Much as he did the first time through the course, Gard never saw his score even reach even-par after a birdie on the same par-five #2 at the start. He had six birdies in the round, and a tournament-best 11 overall (tied with Patrick Garrett of Georgia College).

Despite the impressive performance by Gard, Florida Southern still trailed the co-leaders by five strokes after Florida Tech counted nothing worse than a 74 in either round, and Barry had the 69 and 67 from Segerstrom, who was the only golfer to break 70 in both rounds.

The Moccasins not only got a 70 from Gard in round two, they got the same score from Tim Crouch, who was tied for eighth place individually with a one-under par 143. That made him one of 10 golfers to break par for the day, and Florida Southern and Barry were the only teams to have two such golfers.

Shane Convery was tied for 37th with a 149 (+5), Peter Creigton was tied for 51st with a 152 (+8), and Lee White was tied for 62nd with a 155 (+11).

The final round of the Matlock Collegiate Classic begins Tuesday morning with a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m.

                         Matlock Collegiate Classic   
                         Lone Palm G. C.          Lakeland, FL  
                         Dates: 02/13 - 02/14     (Today:02-13-2012)
                                   Par:        72               
                                   Yardage:  7065               

      Fin.   School                   Scores 
         1   Barry University         289  287    576         E
             Florida Tech             286  290    576         E
         3   Lynn University          297  284    581        +5
             St. Edward's U.          295  286    581        +5
             Florida Southern Col     289  292    581        +5
         6   West Florida, U. of      289  294    583        +7
         7   Newberry College         294  292    586       +10
         8   Columbus State           292  296    588       +12
             Georgia College          295  293    588       +12
        10   Rollins College          295  295    590       +14
             Armstrong Atlantic       292  298    590       +14
        12   Valdosta St. U.          303  292    595       +19
        13   Eckerd College           301  298    599       +23
        14   Lander University        303  300    603       +27
        15   West Georgia, U. of      307  305    612       +36

      Fin.   School                   Scores 

      T  1   Barry University         289  287    576
         1    Marcus Segerstrom        69   67    136
      T  3    Scott Smyers             70   71    141
      T 37    Daniel Stapff            74   75    149
      T 49    Simon Forsslund          76   75    151
      T 58    Roberto Cacho            80   74    154

      T  1   Florida Tech             286  290    576
      T  5    Christian Westhorpe      68   74    142
      T 14    Patrick Sheedy           72   73    145
      T 21    Ray Badenhorst           77   69    146
      T 28    Colin Flabbi             74   74    148
      T 68    Brandon Lau              72   85    157

      T  3   Lynn University          297  284    581
      T  5    Marcelo Rozo             74   68    142
      T 14    Paul McPhee              74   71    145
      T 26    Ernesto Vitienes         75   72    147
      T 26    Roberto Francioni        74   73    147
      T 28    Daniel Young             75   73    148

      T  3   St. Edward's U.          295  286    581
      T 11    Luke Kwon                71   73    144
      T 14    Logan Boatner            71   74    145
      T 28    Santiago Quintero        76   72    148
      T 28    Enrique Livas            77   71    148
      T 41    Jose A. Hernandez        80   70    150

      T  3   Florida Southern Col     289  292    581
         2    Case Gard                67   70    137
      T  8    Tim Crouch               73   70    143
      T 37    Shane Convery            73   76    149
      T 51    Peter Creighton          76   76    152
      T 62    Lee White                77   78    155

         6   West Florida, U. of      289  294    583
      T  8    Robbie Van Riper         74   69    143
      T 14    Carlos Rodriguez         72   73    145
      T 21    T. Guste-Pedersen        69   77    146
      T 41    Ryan Black               74   76    150
      T 41    Adam Whipp               74   76    150

         7   Newberry College         294  292    586
      T  3    Jon Weiss                71   70    141
      T 28    Matthew Campbell         77   71    148
      T 28    Chandler Gruenmeier      72   76    148
      T 41    Matthew Killen           74   76    150
      T 54    Tommy Hurst              78   75    153

      T  8   Columbus State           292  296    588
      T  5    Rourke Van der Spuy      67   75    142
      T 21    Justin Grice             74   72    146
      T 28    Steven Paine             76   72    148
      T 54    Johan Swanepoel          75   78    153
      T 68    Stephen Swanepoel        80   77    157

      T  8   Georgia College          295  293    588
      T 11    David Sullivan           74   70    144
      T 14    Patrick Garrett          72   73    145
      T 28    Taylor Smith             75   73    148
      T 49    Victor Monte             74   77    151
        75    Ryan Trocchio            80   80    160

      T 10   Rollins College          295  295    590
      T 14    Tyler Sluman             71   74    145
      T 37    Davis Hall               75   74    149
      T 41    Spencer Cole             76   74    150
      T 51    Hunter Stone             73   79    152
      T 66    Scott Lamb               83   73    156

      T 10   Armstrong Atlantic       292  298    590
      T  8    Travis Williamson        69   74    143
      T 11    Matt Motes               69   75    144
      T 41    Taylor Gove              72   78    150
      T 68    Jacob Tilton             82   75    157
        74    Tyler Erickson           85   74    159

        12   Valdosta St. U.          303  292    595
      T 14    Michael Rafalowicz       72   73    145
      T 21    Nate Anderson            75   71    146
      T 41    Clarke Hendrick          77   73    150
      T 58    Austin Graham            79   75    154
      T 72    Michael Nutter           79   79    158

        13   Eckerd College           301  298    599
      T 21    Callum Georgallides      71   75    146
      T 37    Paul Henderson           78   71    149
      T 54    Jeff Evanier             75   78    153
      T 54    Curtis Lahey             77   76    153
      T 58    Greg Reilly              78   76    154

        14   Lander University        303  300    603
      T 41    Chad Siefert             71   79    150
      T 51    Tanner Robb              79   73    152
      T 62    Neal Todd                82   73    155
      T 62    Oliver Van Nairn         80   75    155
      T 66    Tucker Nelson            73   83    156

        15   West Georgia, U. of      307  305    612
      T 28    Bryn Powers              75   73    148
      T 58    Kevin Clarke             78   76    154
      T 62    Dan Merriman             78   77    155
      T 68    Eric Alvarez             78   79    157
      T 72    Jack Wall, Jr.           76   82    158