University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Golden Eagle Golfers Shoot Best Round Of Championship, Finish Third
4/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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Golden Eagle Golfers Shoot Best Round Of Championship, Finish Third
NAVARRE, Fla. -- The Southern Miss men's golf team saved its best round of the week, a 1-under-par 287, for today's final round of the Conference USA Championship and earned a solid, third-place finish in the three-day, 54-hole event that concluded today at The Course at Hidden Creek, here.
TCU won the championship with a final round 284 to finish at 858, six shots ahead of Houston after the Cougars shot the best round of the tournament, an- 8-under-par 280, to move from fifth to second. UAB slipped from second to sixth after a final round 299.
Senior Tim Yelverton led the way with the best round of the day, a 5-under-par 67, that was matched by Houston's Simon Robinson. Yelverton finished the championship at four-under-par 74-71-67--212, in fifth place, and was named to the All-Tournament team as well as the All-Conference team. In addition to Yelverton, Michael Soroka finished with an even-par 72 (77-75-72--224), Jake Pasch at 73 (70-73-73--216) and both Matt Wofford (73-73-75--221) and Shane Rushing (74-74-75--223) carded 75s for the Golden Eagles.
TCU's Bret Guetz continued his strong play with a final round, 1-under-par 71 and finished the championship at 66-68-71--205, breaking the previous individual 209 record set by Houston's Andy Sanders, in 1999. Also, Houston's final round 8-under-par 280 team total snapped the Cougars' own 281 mark, set in 1999. Evan Frederick of Saint Louis finished four shots back (69-67-73--209), Houston's Simon Robinson third (74-69-67--210), East Carolina's Jason Harris fourth (69-71-71--211) and Yelverton fifth. All five were named to the All-Tournament team.
Southern Miss' performance was the best for a Golden Eagle squad since they started competing in Conference USA. Last year's team finished in a tie for third place, but with an 899 total, compared to this year's 869. That 869 also is the best team total for at least back into the 1980s.
Yelverton was joined on the 10-player All-Conference team by Ricky Carrillo and Tele Wightman of South Florida; Andy Doeden, Guetz and Adam Rubinson, all of TCU; Harris of East Carolina; Robinson of Houston; Chris Wheeler of Tulane and Graeme McDowell of UAB.
UAB's McDowell was named player-of-the-year, Louisville's Brett Jones and TCU's J.J. Killeen were co-freshmen of the year and TCU's Bill Montigel was voted coach-of-the-year.
Head Coach Steve Johnson felt today's round and the tournament as a whole are just starting points. "I was really pleased with the way we played today, he said. "We turned the front side at 4-under-par today, and, considering that we played that side at 11-over-par the day before, the team obviously had exorcised those demons by today. I also was glad to see Tim (Yelverton) play as well as he did. Today was one of his best rounds of the year and it definitely was a good way for him to finish his Southern Miss career. He birdied the last four holes Tuesday and opened with two straight birdies today. It was just good, solid golf on his part.
"Certainly, congratulations are in order for Houston and TCU. Both have a long-standing tradition of good golf and I think we're starting that kind of tradition. That we were able to go toe-to-toe with those two programs, can only be a sign of good things to come for our Southern Miss program."
