Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Win Team And Individual Titles For Second Consecutive Week
September 22, 2009 | Men's Golf
For the second consecutive week, the Bowling Green State University men's golf team has claimed both a team and individual championship, as the Falcons won both crowns at the 2009 Earl Yestingsmeier Intercollegiate, hosted by Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
As a team, the Falcons used a school-record score of 556 after 36 holes to build an insurmountable 14-shot lead over the other 14 teams in this year's field. A final round score of 294 gave the Falcons a tournament total of 850 (276-280-294). Their ten-over-par score bested second place Ball State (856) by six strokes. Cincinnati finished third, with a final score of 861. Eastern Kentucky (875) and Loyola-Chicago (877) completed the top five.
Bowling Green's score of 556 through the first two rounds broke the previous record of 562, set at the 2005 John Piper Intercollegiate. Their first round score of 276 and final score of 850 fell just shy of team records set at the same tourney.
Individually, sophomore Drew Preston won his first college tournament championship with a one-under-par 209 (65-67-77). Preston used a school record score of 132 through 36 holes to build a seven-stroke lead going into the final round. His career-low 209 is only one stroke shy of the school record for 54 holes. For the tournament, Preston shot par or better on 43 of the 54 holes.
Preston becomes the sixth different Falcon to win a tournament title during coach Garry Winger's tenure, and those six players have combined for seven wins. This is the fifth individual win for Bowling Green since the start of the 2007 season, and four of those have been by current players (Preston 1, John Powers 1, Matt Schneider 2).
Senior John Powers improved on his second place tie in the 2008 Earl Yestingsmeier Intercollegiate by placing alone in second this year. Powers has now placed in the top three in both of this year's tournaments; he has scored 213 or lower in both, as well. Powers' one-over-par score of 211 (73-67-71) was only two strokes behind Preston. Powers shot par or better on 47 of the tournament's 54 holes.
Fellow senior Matt Schneider, who tied with Powers for third place at last year's tournament, carded a five-over-par 215 (67-75-73) for an eighth-place tie this year. This is Schneider's seventh top-ten finish since the beginning of the 2008-09 season.
Freshman Wes Gates finished in the top 20 with a tie for 16th place, as he carded a 219 (74-71-74). Sophomore Parker Hewit finished the tournament with a 223 (71-76-76).
The Falcons next compete in two weeks at the Xavier Invitational, which will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday, October 5th and Tuesday, October 6th.
In last year's Xavier Invitational, the Falcons finished 11th with a score of 875; Matt Schneider led the way individually, finishing in 18th place.
1. BOWLING GREEN STATE 276-280-294 – 850 (+ 10)
2. Ball State 289-284-283 – 856 (+ 16)
3. Cincinnati 289-281-291 – 861 (+ 21)
4. Eastern Kentucky 289-299-287 – 875 (+ 35)
5. Loyola (Chicago) 292-291-294 – 877 (+ 37)
6. Belmont 282-292-305 – 879 (+ 39)
7. Austin Peay State 293-296-293 – 882 (+ 42)
8. Youngstown State 297-294-298 – 889 (+ 49)
9. Ohio University 303-291-296 – 890 (+ 50)
10. Wright State 304-295-300 – 899 (+ 59)
11. Dayton 305-299-301 – 905 (+ 65)
12. IPFW 306-309-301 – 916 (+ 76)
13. Valparaiso 313-314-306 – 933 (+ 93)
14. IUPUI 318-307-320 – 945 (+105)
15. Vincennes 322-318-318 – 958 (+118)
