USF won for the third time this season
(USF Athletics Photo)
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, CA (February 6, 2018) - The USF Bulls have now won three-times this season. After winning twice in the fall the Bulls began their spring season with a comeback victory at the Sea Best Invitational.
Trailing by four-strokes at the start of the final round USF put together the round of the day to eke out a one shot victory. On a day where no team broke par the Bulls put together a 1-over tally at TPC at Sawgrass' Dye's Valley to finish the tournament 6-under.
Leading the Bulls charge on Tuesday was senior Cristian DiMarco who carded a team best 3-under 67 to share 11th at 2-under. DiMarco played his best golf from Nos. 13-16 when he rolled in three birdies in a four hole stretch.
USF also received top-20 play from Claudio Correa (T11; -2) and Jimmy Jones (T16; +1). However, the round that pushed the Bulls over the top came from Priyanshu Singh (T44; +9), one day after he carded second round 9-over 79 he bounced back with a level-par 70 in the final round that was capped by a late birdie on No. 16.
36-hole leading No. 21 Arkansas (-5) took second, Liberty (-1) was third, No. 10 LSU (+2) placed fourth while Tennessee (+3) was fifth.
In the individual race Ervin Chang earned medalist honors with a victory on the first hole of a three-way playoff. Chang finished regulation tied with two others, Eric Ansett (Lipscomb) and William Register (North Carolina), at 6-under before earning his first career collegiate individual title with some overtime work..
A sophomore at Liberty, Chang carded an even-par 70 in the final round and after a bogey on the 5th and a birdie on the 7th he parred his way to the house. Chang began his tournament with consecutive 3-under 67's.
Arnsett earned his way into the playoff with a 1-under 69 and for a stretch he seemed poised to win the tournament in regulation. Out of the gates Arnsett was nearly unstopable birdieing four of his first nine holes before sliding backwards with three bogeys between Nos. 10-13.
Register started the day in a tie for the lead and had himself an up-and-down day that would have ended in a victory had it not been for a bogey on No. 18. Tuesday saw Register produce a little bit of everything including four birdies, an eagle, four bogeys and a double-bogey. Register bounced back from his 14th hole double-bogey with birdies on the ensuing two holes and he went to the 18th in the lead alone.
Lorenzo Scalise (Tennessee) finished 4-under and one shot out of the playoff in fourth while Nathan Jeansonne (LSU), Isaiah Logue (Liberty) and Luis Garza (Arkansas) shared fifth at 4-under.
36-HOLE RECAP
After an opening 2-over tally No. 21 Arkansas tied a program scoring record with a 13-under showing to open up a four-stroke lead at The Sea Best Invitational.
The Razorbacks, 11-under, currently find themselves in front of second place USF (-7), third place Liberty (-6), in fourth it is Tennessee (-2) while in fifth it is North Carolina (E).
Winners in September at the Gopher Invitational Arkansas was led on Monday by sophomore Luis Garza. During the 36-hole opening day at TPC at Sawgrass Dye's Valley Garza combined rounds of 67-69 and at 4-under he is two off the lead in a tie for fourth. Throughout the two rounds Garza played steady golf birdieing six-times while bogeying just twice, once each round.
Three other Razorbacks are tied for 10th following 2-under showings. The group includes Alvaro Ortiz, Mason Overstreet and Wiliam Buhl.
Out in front of the medalist race are Liberty's Ervin Chang and William Register or North Carolina, both of whom are 6-under and ahead by a stroke.
Chang, a sophomore, earned his way to the top of the leaderboard with rounds of 67-67. Following a five birdie, three bogey first round Chang had an adventuresome second round that included two eagles (Nos. 3 and 7), three birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey that came on his first hole the 11th. In fact Chang, whose best finish this year is ninth at the Shoal Creek Invitational, was 3-over through three holes before rebounding.
Co-leader William Register did most of his work early in the day with a 5-under 65 in the first round and then a 1-under 69 in the afternoon round. In that first round Register played flawless golf while rolling in five birdies and thus far through 36-holes the North Carolina sophomore has just one bogey.
Eric Ansett (Lipscomb) is third at 5-under, while Garza, Raul Pereda (Jacksonville), Claudio Correa (USF) and Ryan Gerard (North Carolina) are 4-under in a tie for fourth.
ABOUT THE
Sea Best Invitational
54-hole men's college tournament
hosted
by the University of Jacksonville at Atlantic Beach CC. Team (best four out of five players each
round) and individual competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information