Duo of Freeman, Staiano win Saguaro Team by eight
Jake Staiano (L) and Ethan Freeman (R)
(Saguaro Team Photo)
MARICOPA, AZ (December 31, 2016) -- Ethan Freeman and Jake Staiano couldn't have drawn it up any better. Over the course of two rounds at the Saguaro Team championship Freeman and Staiano didn't bogey once and they combined for 17 birdies on their way to a 17-under finish and a nine shot victory at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club.
Freeman, a senior at Colorado, and Staiano, a sophomore at Colorado State, combined flawless rounds of 63-64 to runaway with the title. On Thursday the pairing jump started their tournament with four straight birdies from Nos. 2-5 and six overall on the front side.
In the second round the birdies kept falling with another seven finding the bottom of the cup. The opening nine proved to be the most fruitful of the sides for Freeman and Staiano as they went a combined 10-under over the course of the two days.
Brothers Kade and Kasey Crossland earned a runner-up finish with tallies of 65-70 to post 9-under. Kade is currently a junior at Colorado while Kasey is a freshman at Corban University.
Third place was grabbed by Chris Headen and Les Ledingham at 6-under, Beau Briggs (Ole Miss) and Stephen Wall were 3-under and in fourth while Ben Dubois (Gonzaga) and David Ganz (Gonzaga); Robert Barnhardt and Sean Griswold shared fifth at 1-under.