April 29, 2008
Contact: Greg Murphy
LEBANON, Ohio - Junior Jake Scott (Strongsville, OH) shot a one-under-par 71 in the final round to claim medalist honors and Cleveland State rallied from behind in the final holes to claim the team title at the 2008 Horizon League Men's Golf Championships, which were concluded on Tuesday at the Shaker Run Golf Club.
By virtue of the title, Cleveland State automatically receives a a berth in one of the two upcoming NCAA Men's Golf Regionals, which will be held from May 15-17, 2008 in either Columbus, Ohio and Bremerton, Wash.
Cleveland State shot rounds of 294, 299 and 299 to finish with an 892 teram total, claiming its second team title in the last three years by one stroke over second place Detroit (893) and four strokes over third place Youngstown State (896).
"What an awesome day," first year CSU head coach Steve Weir said. "It was a total team effort, from one through five in the lineup, and without it, we wouldn't have walked away with the title.
"We went into the final round wanting to get off to a better start than we did in the first two rounds and we did just that. Unfortunately, we ran into a couple of obstacles on the back nine and fell behind.
"These guys refused to give up and even though it looked like we had no chance to come back, they put it together on the final two holes to win it. I wasn't sure that we had won it until they handed us the trophy," Weir added.
After shooting rounds of 294 and 299 on Monday, the Vikings entered the final round with a three-shot lead over defending champion Detroit. CSU saw that lead grow to as many as eight shots over the early part of the round before Detroit rallied to even the tourney at the turn.
CSU and Detroit were tied and Youngstown State was just one stroke back after 16 holes and the tourney was ultimately determined when CSU's Patrick Elber rolled in a birdie putt on 18 to give the Vikings a one-stroke advantage. The Titans suffered bogeys on the 17th by Mark Sommerfeld and on the 18th by David Byrne and YSU had three bogeys during the span.
Scott, who shot a six-under 134 to win the Kent State Invitational over the weekend, entered the final round with a one-under 143 total. He birdied the third, fourth, sixth and ninth holes on the front as part of a two-under 34. A birdie on the 13th hole brought him to four-under for the tourney before bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes closed him out at 71 for the round and a two-under -214 for the tourney.
Scott was the only player to break par, finishing two strokes ahead of Butler's Kyle Thomas, who shot an even-par 216.
"It's great to see Jake finish the year as strong as he did," Weir said. "He struggled a bit at the Detrotit tournament a couple of weeks ago so we got together on the range and talked a few things out and he really responded. He was fantastic at Kent State over the weekend and it carried over to this week.
"We sent him out in the No. 5 slot on Monday so that we could change this up a bit for him and it appeared to help him. He was really ready for today and he wasn't going to let anything stop him."
After opening the tourney with a three-under-69 yesterday, freshman Kent Monas (Perry, OH) opened the final round tied with Scott at one-under but ran into trouble on the front nine. He double bogeyed the par-4, 450-yard first hole and then added bogeys on the fifth, sixth and ninth holes as part of a four-over 40 on the front nine. Monas turned things around on the back, birdieing the 10th and 14th holes to finish in third place with a one-over 217.
"Kent came up huge today," Weir said. "After playing so well yesterday, he made a couple of mistakes on the front but was able to regroup at the turn and put together a great effort on the back nine. That is a great showing for a freshman."
Sophomore Patrick Elber shot a final round 74 to finish in 17th place with a 229 total while Doug Barber (24th with a 234) and Kyle Cobb (27th, 236) rounded out the Viking lineup.
The Vikings figured prominently in the Horizon League awards that were handed out after the tourney. Weir was tabbed as the Horizon League Coach of the Year while both Scott and Barber were each named to the All-Horizon League team with Scott and Monas earning a spot on the all-tourney team.
FINAL TEAM RESULTS
1. Cleveland State 892 (294-299-299)
2. Detroit 893 (295-301-297)
3. Youngstown State 896 (303-296-297)
4. Loyola 921 (307-309-305)
5. Butler 922 (302-304-316)
6. UW-Green Bay 923 (297-312-314)
7. Wright State 926 (310-303-313)
Individual Leaders
1. Jake Scott (CSU), 214 (73-70-71)
2. Kyle Thomas (Butler), 216 (71-71-74)
3. Kent Monas (CSU), 217 (69-74-74)
T-4. Adam Austreng (UWGB), 218 (70-71-77)
David Byrne (Detroit), 218 (74-73-71)
Other CSU Golfers
17. Patrick Elber, 229 (76-79-74)
24. Doug Barber, 234 (76-78-80)
27. Kyle Cobb, 236 (78-77-81)
All-Tournament Team
Jake Scott, CSU
Kyle Thomas, BU
Kent Monas, CSU
Adam Austreng, GB
David Byrne, UDM
Kevin Sasena, BU
Armando Favela, LU
Michael Turner, YSU
All-League Team
Doug Barber, CSU
Jake Scott, CSU
David Byrne, UDM
Mark Sommerfeld, UDM
Travis Meyer, GB
Armando Favela, LU
Tyler Miskell, WSU
Ryan Stocke, YSU
Newcomer of the Year: Jeff Clarridge, UDM
Player of the Year: Mark Sommerfeld, UDM
Coach of the Year: Steve Weir, CSU
