Louisiana Golf Surges To A Third Place Finish At Memphis

Memphis Intercollegiate Final Results

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns golf team bounced back with a strong performance on Tuesday to surge into a tie for third on the final day of the Memphis Intercollegiate hosted at Colonial Country Club.

The Cajuns carded the lowest team score of the day with a round of 1-over par (289) to move up five spots into a tie with Southern Miss at 14-over (878).

"I am very proud of this collective group effort," head coach Theo Sliman said. "The guys bounced back with a lot of determination today. We are a good team, and good teams find way to bounce back. Our only hiccup of the day was that we didn't finish as strong as we would have liked. If we had done that, we would have been competing for a tournament championship.

"This is going to be an experience that our guys can put in the book and have on hand when they find themselves in the same situation. Hopefully we won't ever have to use it, but an experience like this will only make the team stronger."

Louisiana Tech held on to take the team title with a three-round score of 7-over (871) edging out Memphis (+9, 873) by two strokes. Louisiana (+14, 878), Southern Miss (+14, 878) and Mississippi State (+17, 881) round out the top 5 finishers.

Ben Wood of Mississippi State used a 71 (-1) in the final round to win individual medalist honors with an overall score of 5-under (211).

Senior Louis Kelly notched his second straight top 10 finish at an event placing in a tie for sixth at 1-over (217) shooting a 71 (-1) in the third round. Kelly had the lone eagle of the tournament for the Cajuns on the 16th hole.

"This was a big week for Louis," Sliman added. "He had a good tournament in his first week and now he has backed it up with another good outing. Louis has improved in each round every tournament and that really shows that he understands our philosophy of learn and apply. I expect to see good things out of him as the season progresses."

Junior Haraldur Magnus also ended up in the top 10 for the fifth time in his career carding a 54-hole score of 2-over (218) to finish in a tie for ninth. Magnus tallied a birdie in his final three holes to secure the top 10 finish.

"I'm really proud of Haraldur to come into the event with the bulls eye on his back as the defending individual champion and finish in the top 10," Sliman said. "Having to defend a title puts an added pressure on a player, and I thought he handled it well. Haraldur has a couple things to work on, but he has looked good so far this season."

Thomas Strandemo improved in his final round to place in a tie for 32nd at 8-over (224). Sophomore Fernando Cruz Valle bounced back to post a 72 (E) in the final round to move up into a tie for 45th at 10-over (226), while Ross Davis rounded out the scoring for Louisiana finishing in a tie for 54th at 13-over (229).

"We have got to get better as a team even though we finished strong today," Sliman stated. "Having to work out of an eight place hole is not something that we want to have to do each week. This team is good enough to come out and put us in a good position after the first day. We will get right back to work as we head to New Mexico this weekend. As the season goes along the field is going to get stronger and stronger and things will get tougher for us. We just need to clean some things up and we will be right where we need to be."

The Ragin' Cajuns return to action next week as they head to Albuquerque, N.M., for the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate hosted by New Mexico from Sept. 26-27.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Louisiana Golf Surges To A Third Place Finish At Memphis

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