By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
DuPONT, Wash. -- Austin Davis (So., Culver City, CA/Culver City HS) of Willamette University was tied for sixth place with a 2-under-par 70 as the first round of Pacific Lutheran University's Collegiate Open in men's golf concluded on Saturday, Sept. 14 at The Home Course. Willamette was seventh in the team standings out of 12 teams competing at the tournament. Action will continue on Sunday, Sept. 15 with the final round of the event.
Davis was one of 11 golfers with scores below the par of 72. Jared Beals of Pacific Lutheran and Travis Bossio of Grays Harbor College (Wash.) were tied for the lead at 6-under-par 66. Mac Turner from University of Puget Sound was third at 67, while Zach Olson from the University of the Fraser Valley (Canada) was forth at 68. Halen Davis, also from Fraser Valley, held fifth place with a 69. Davis and two other golfers -- Reilly Hegarty of Whitworth University and Brook Wyatt of Fraser Valley -- were tied for sixth place with scores of 70.
The sub-par scores also included three golfers tied for ninth place at 71. They were Tyler Cassell of Grays Harbor, Kyle Claggott of Fraser Valley, and Jake Ellison of Puget Sound.
Alex Weirth (Fy., Port Orchard, WA/Crosspoint Academy) from Willamette was one of eight golfers tied for 13th place at 1-over-par 73. Other competitors who contributed to the team score for Willamette were Andrew Kibbee (So., Kenmore, WA/Bothell HS) and Tyler Shreve (So., Buffalo, WY/Buffalo HS), who each shot a 79.
"We really enjoy this event and it is a great course to play. The field is packed with talent for teams and players. Overall, I thought it was a very positive start. We are pretty young, and for three of our guys this was their first college event. There is certainly room to grow and get better in certain areas, but overall it's invaluable experience that we can build on."
"Austin Davis started really strong, making the turn at 3-under. He really has the ability to go low and we look to him having a break-out sophomore year. Freshman Alex Weirth had a really good start to his collegiate career coming in on the day at 73. Alex absolutely bombs the ball, and it was great to see him compete and handle the pressure."
— Willamette Head Coach Patrick Daugherty.
Fraser Valley topped the team standings at 278. Grays Harbor was second at 286, and Whitworth was two strokes back in third place at 288. Puget Sound was fourth at 290, with Pacific Lutheran in fifth at 294, Spokane Community College (Wash.) in sixth at 297, and Willamette in seventh at 301. Northwest Christian University (Wash.) owned eighth place at 304, while Bellevue College (Wash.) was ninth at 304. The Northwest Christian "B" team was 10th at 305, with Southwestern Oregon Community College in 11th at 309 and Whitman College in 12th at 314.