Early struggles lead to 13th place finish at Kingsmen Invitational
LOMPOC, Calif. – The Chapman University men's golf team dug themselves into an early hole at the three-day Kingsmen Invitational which ended Tuesday, finishing 13th in the 14-team field at La Purisma Golf Course. Despite the Panthers early struggles, the team rallied in the last round on Tuesday to post a 325, their best single-round score of the tournament.
The high team score did not stop senior Van Pierce from placing eighth in the tournament. Along with the rest of the Panthers, Pierce struggled early with an opening round of 85 on the par 72 course. The senior came back to post a 79 and a 76 in his final two rounds to earn his fourth top-10 tournament finish this year. Pierce's final round of 76 was the fifth lowest score of the tournament.
The other standout performance from the weekend came from sophomore Addison Devone. The sophomore had five of Chapman's 11 birdies with his birdie total tying for fifth-best in the tournament. Devone's overall 253 score was Chapman's second best score, 13 strokes behind Pierce.
Juniors Travis Walker and Michael Green along with freshman Matt Johnson finished the tournament with overall scores of 262, 287 and 269, respectively.
Tournament host Cal Lutheran won the event by seven strokes over Whitworth College with an overall score of 962 while Berry College, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Faulkner University rounded out the top five.
Complete Results: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/mgolf/2010-11/files/KingsmenInvite1.PDF
by Robert Flicker
Sports Information Intern
