Kukula Places Third in his First College Tournament
BANKS, ORE. -- Led by an individual third place finish from freshman Ryan Kukula, the Willamette University men's golf team took third place overall, as the Pacific Invitational concluded on Sunday, Sept. 25. The two-day, 36-hole event was held at the Quail Valley Golf Course.
Many of the top golfers -- 16 of the top 18 on the final leaderboard -- had a higher score during Sunday's second round than during the first round on Saturday. Kukula, who held first place after 18 holes with a 66, shot a 78 in the second round. His impressive 6-under par first round, combined with so many other increased scores in the second round, enabled Kukula to slip just two spots into third place with an even-par 144.
Alex Fitch of Linfield, who trailed Kukula by three strokes on the first day, finished in first place with a two-day total of 139 (69-70). Joey Duwe from Corban University took second. He was one shot out of the lead in the first round with a 67. He followed up with a 75 on Sunday for a combined score of 142.
Fourth place was a tie between Jared Lambert of Corban and A.J. Taylor of Linfield, both at 149. Lambert shot 74-75, while Taylor carded 68-81. Roger Hults of Pacific University was sixth at 150 (69-81).
Willamette's Will Ferguson (Fr.) tied for seventh place at 151 (69-82). Also tied for seventh was Thomas Arand from Linfield, who shot 75-76.
Tyler Mutch (Fr.) of WU missed the top 10 by just one stroke. He shot 74-80--154 to gain part of a three-way tie for 11th. Brandon Shin (Fr.) shot 77-80--157 for Willamette, while teammate Jonathan Ross (Fr.) registered 76-82--158.
Linfield topped the team standings at 15-over par with a total score of 591 (283-308). Corban was second at 601 (293-308) and Willamette was third at 605 (285-320). Pacific University claimed fourth place at 623 (297-326), Whitman was fifth at 628 (312-316) and George Fox University was sixth at 631 (311-320). Lewis & Clark College did not field a complete team.
Willamette will travel to Spokane, Wash., next weekend to compete in the Whitworth Invitational on Sunday, Oct. 2 and Monday, Oct. 3. Tee times are set to begin at 12 p.m. (PDT) in the first round and at 9 a.m. in the second round.
Freshman Ryan Kukula placed third at the Pacific Invitational in his first college tournament.
