March 4, 2008
CSU Spring Kick Off Classic Final Results
North Charleston, S.C. - The Kennesaw State men's golf team took home team and individual awards for the second-consecutive tournament Tuesday at the CSU Spring Kick Off Classic, with the team earning second and J.P. Putnam and Oliver West finishing second and third respectively.
The Owls came up just one stroke short of their first tournament win of the year, matching team champion Memphis' final round 304 to finish at 875, a shot behind the Tigers.
The second place finish was KSU's best of the season and the tournament marked the second-straight week an Owls golfer has finished as the individual runner-up after West finished second at the spring opening Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate last week.
The conditions were much more difficult during Tuesday's final round as was evident by the higher all-around scores. Only one team, Notre Dame, bettered its Monday low, as the average team score was up over ten shots from the opening two rounds.
"The weather was really tough today, and we struggled during the middle of the round after getting off to a good start," said Kennesaw State head coach Blake Smart. "Memphis was really solid and held us off. We are putting ourselves in position more often, and hopefully we will finish one off soon."
Putnam maintained his position to finish in second place alone with a 216 total after firing a closing 76. The Owls newest member tied West for the team's best finish of the season.
West took home hardware for the second-straight tournament with his tie for third place. The only Owls senior in the competition recorded a team-low 74 on Tuesday to finish at 217, just one stroke behind Putnam in second.
"J.P. and Oliver really played solid golf," added Smart on his top two finishers. "It was nice to take home both team and individual hardware."
Michael Tulacz also moved up the leaderboard on Tuesday, using a 76 to push him from a tie for 20th to a tie for 14th at 224. Tied with Tulacz at 224 was freshman Matthew Nagy. Nagy turned in a final round 78 to post his second top 20 finish in as many tries.
Rounding out the scoring for the Owls was Bryan Alred. Though his score didn't count towards the team total, the sophomore from Woodstock, Ga. finished tied for 18th marking the first time since last season's Poplar Hill Intercollegiate that all five Owls finished in the top 20.
Kennesaw State was among he leaders in a number of statistical categories including leading the field in birdies (46) and par five scoring (4.71). They also finished second in par four scoring (4.18). Tulacz led the field in par five scoring (4.44) while Putnam was second in birdies with 12.
The Owls will get 10 days off before returning to action at the three-day Linger Longer Invitational hosted by Mercer University at Reynold's Plantation on March 14-16.
