Men’s Golf Back In Action At Husky Invite
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Looking to continue the momentum from its opening tournament of the fall season, the Oregon State men’s golf team will compete at the 15-team Husky Invitational Monday and Tuesday in Bremerton, Wash.
FIELD (15): Oregon State, BYU, Gonzaga, New Mexico, Oregon, Pepperdine, Sacramento State, Saint Mary’s, San Diego State, Seattle, UC Davis, UCLA, Utah, Washington and Washington State.
COURSE: The tournament will be held at the par-72, 7,179-yard Gold Mountain Olympic Course. Some other events the course has hosted, or will host, over the years include:
- Future Host - NCAA Men's Regional Championship (2015)
- Host - U.S. Junior Amateur Championship (2011)
- Host - NCAA Men's West Regional Golf Championship (2008)
- Host - 81st U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship (2006)
BEAVERS’ LINEUP: Oregon State will go with a lineup of senior Alex Franklin, junior Brian Jung, sophomore Kevin Murphy, and freshmen Tyler Collier and Jonas Liebich.
Senior Scott Kim, juniors Tyler Carlson and Chris Tedesco, sophomore Brett Johnson and freshman CJ Sitton will compete as individuals on the par-71, 6,707-yard Gold Mountain Cascade Course. It is a completely separate tournament from the team event.
FORMAT: Two-day, 54-hole tournament with 36 holes of continuous play on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday. The top-four individuals from each five-member team with the lowest scores for each 18-hole round constitute the scoring members for that given round.
TEE TIMES: Monday’s tee times will begin at 7:30 a.m. off the first and 10th holes, followed by the second round teeing off at approximately 1 p.m. Tee times for Tuesday will begin at 8 a.m. off the first and 10th holes, with pairings decided by order of finish from the previous day.
LIVE SCORING: There will be live scoring on birdiefire.com for the team and individual tournaments.
LAST TIME OUT: Oregon State improved every day in its first tournament of the 2014-15 season, climbing from 10th place after the first round to finish in a tie for fourth at the three-day, 54-hole Golfweek’s Conference Challenge last week.
The Beavers shot a 2-over 290 in the final round after opening with a 13-over 301 and shooting a 6-over 294 on the second day to finish with a 21-over 885 at the par-72, 7,222-yard Spirit Hollow Golf Course. Oregon State finished in a tie for fourth place with Southeastern Louisiana, while LSU (15-under 849), SMU (4-under 860) and Iowa (10-over 874) rounded out the top three in the 12-team field.
Conner Kumpula shot a career-best round in the final round, a 1-under 71, while Alex Franklin, Tyler Carlson and freshman Jonas Liebich each carded a 1-over 73 to make up the Beavers’ final score that helped them move three spots up the leaderboard.
Kumpula fired the first sub-par round of his collegiate career, which included five birdies, two bogeys and a double, to vault nine spots up the leaderboard into sole 26th place with a 7-over 78-74-71--223. The 1-under 71 bettered the even-par 71 he shot as an individual at the Husky Invitational last fall.
Franklin posted the third top-10 finish in his two years at Oregon State, relying on his steady play that included a team-best nine birdies over the three rounds to finish with a 2-over 73-72-73--218 for a tie for ninth place. His best career finish in the Orange and Black was sole seventh at last fall’s Mark Simpson Invitational.
Liebich, who made his collegiate debut, also improved each day as he finished in a tie for 27th place with an 8-over 76-75-73--224. The Ingolstadt, Germany native bogeyed his first four holes of the day before rallying to shoot 3 under the rest of the round for a solid, and career best, 1-over 73.
Carlson had two birdies for the third straight day but stayed away from the big numbers that haunted him in the first two rounds, as he posted a 1-over 73, the first time in the tournament he had a number that counted for the team score. The native of Clarkston, Wash., finished the tourney in a tie for 40th place with a 12-over 79-76-73--228.
Kevin Murphy slipped a bit in the final round but had seven birdies over the three rounds to equal the second most on the team and finish in a tie for 29th place with a 9-over 74-73-78--225.
LAST YEAR AT THE HUSKY INVITATIONAL: Oregon State opened its 2013-14 season with a respectable third-place finish at the 15-team Husky Invitational last year with newcomer Alex Franklin leading the Beavers with a top-10 finish.
Oregon State shot a 4-over 290-288-290--868 at the par-72, 7,124-yard Gold Mountain Olympic Course to conclude the two-day, 54-hole tournament in third behind Washington (17-under 847) and Arizona State (1-over 865). The Beavers finished ahead of four Pac-12 schools -- Oregon (t7), USC (t7), Washington State (11) and Utah (15).
Franklin was steady throughout his first tournament with the Beavers, posting a 2-under 71-72-71--214 to finish in a tie for seventh. After carding three birdies in each of his two rounds, he added three more chirps on the final day, along with two bogeys, to finish with his second sub-par round of the tournament.
Highly-touted freshman Kevin Murphy was also making his Oregon State debut, and the Rogue River native didn’t disappoint, as he fired a 1-under 69-74-72--215 to finish in a tie for 11th place. He had a team-best 12 birdies over the three rounds and didn’t get anything worse than a bogey.
David Fink started his highly-anticipated senior campaign in a tie for 20th place after finishing with a 2-over 75-69-74--218. The All-Pac-12 golfer had eight birdies the past two days but took a double bogey in the first and third rounds that kept him from a better finish.
After opening the tourney with a 4-over 76, Scott Kim battled back the next two rounds with a pair of 1-over 73’s to finish in a tie for 41st place with a 6-over 222. Kevin Chen also made his Oregon State debut and finished with a 15-over 75-79-77--231 for a tie for 65th.
The other five golfers on Oregon State’s 2013-14 roster competed as individuals at the Gold Mountain Cascade Course, and their final results were: t3. Brian Jung 69-72-70--211 (-2); t17. Conner Kumpula 71-75-73-219 (+6); t25. Brett Johnson 76-78-69--223 (+10); 33. Tyler Carlson 73-76-76--225 (+12); t42. Chris Tedesco 76-77-76--229 (+16).