Men's Golf | 4/5/2016 4:03:00 PM
Final ResultsDALLAS, Texas – St. Edward's junior golfer
JAY HOGAN tallied four more birdies and another eagle to finish as runner-up at the DBU Patriot Classic Tuesday afternoon. Hogan led the Hilltoppers to an eighth place finish at the Par-72, 7,064-yard Hackberry Country Club.
The race for medalist honors was reduced to a two-man competition as Hogan and Midwestern State's Jared Baker battled it out for supremacy. During the first seven holes it looked as if Baker would run away with the title. Hogan made bogey on his first three holes, while Baker was even-par. However, Hogan caught fire on the back nine. The junior made birdie on holes 14, 16, and 17. He capped off his furious rally with an eagle on 18 that put him two shots in the lead. It would come down to the final three holes. Hogan made bogey on his 16
th and 17
th holes to drop to six-under. Baker made a bogey on his 17
th hole and the two golfers were tied. Baker made his last hole count as he eagled the par-5 No. 3 hole for a two-shot victory.
Hogan finished second and was three shots clear of the rest of the 86-man field. It was Hogan's best career finish as a Hilltopper. His previous low was a tie for third place his freshman year at the DBU Classic in 2014.
"Jay did a great job this week," head coach Todd Ohlmeyer said. "There were a few times this tournament where it seemed like maybe the round was going to get away from him but he was able to regroup and make some birdies. He has played great this semester. He has a lot of confidence right now and has a great temperament, never getting too high or low."
Also competing for the Hilltoppers were junior
DILLON VAN ESSEN (76-72-74=222) who finished tied for 28
th place and
ANDREW SPEAR (75-74-76=225) who tied for 38
th place. Elliot Azoulay (75-79-78=232) ended tied for 56
th place, while
JOEY HEARN (80-75-79=234) finished tied for 60
th place.
St. Edward's (296-288-301=885) finishes in eighth place defeating fellow Heartland Conference members Newman (11
th), Rogers State (12
th), Texas A&M-International (13
th) and Arkansas Fort Smith (14
th). Texas Wesleyan (288-277-298=863) held on for the team victory.
"As a team, we continue to get one solid individual performance but not the team results we are looking for," Ohlmeyer said. "If we continue to make the same mistakes, we will continue to make double and triple bogeys, which is why we are finishing where we are."
Ohlmeyer does see some positives as well as he had this to say about his squad: "We have obviosly seen the potential to play well as we led the field in eagles and were second in birdies. We really need to eliminate those other scores. It's numbers like those that give me confidence moving forward, but we need to improve if we want to achieve our goals."
This tournament wraps up regular season play for St. Edward's. They will be back in action April 17-19 when they travel to Horseshoe Bay, Texas to compete in the Heartland Conference Championship. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA South Central/West Super Regional. Live coverage will be available on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.
