By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director
BREMERTON, Wash. -- The Willamette University men's golf team was in second place at the UPS Invitational after 18 holes on Saturday, March 5 at Gold Mountain Golf Club. The men's competition was held on the Olympic Course.
Olympic College, which competes at the junior college level in the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC), was in first place after carding a team score of 285 in the first round. The Rangers led by 12 strokes. Willamette held second place at 297, one stroke in front of Pacific Lutheran University, which was third at 298.
Whitworth University and Lewis & Clark College were tied for fourth place at 301. Linfield College was sixth at 317, while host University of Puget Sound was seventh at 335. Pacific University was eighth at 343 and Whitman College was ninth at 364.
Two Willamette golfers -- Chase Lamothe (Sr., Corvallis, OR/Corvallis HS) and Trent Jones (Fr., Kenmore, WA/Shorecrest HS) -- were tied for fourth in the individual standings at 71. Lamothe and Jones each shot 36 for the front nine and 35 over the back nine. They were tied with Spencer Jacobsen from Olympic College.
The individual lead was held by Mitchell Baldridge from Pacific Lutheran, who shot a 4-under-par 68 (36-32). Baldridge was in front of two golfers by a single stroke. Alex Aquilar and Davis Gullikson, both competing for Olympic College, were tied for second at 69. Aguilar shot 35-34, while Gullikson carded 33-36.
WU golfer Sam Hinton (Fr., Seaside, OR/Seaside HS) was one of three athletes tied for seventh place at even-par 72. Hinton shot 38-34, matching the 18-hole scores of Whitworth golfers Austin Billeter (36-36) and Oliver Rudnicki (34-38). Ryan Hodl from Whitworth was ninth at 73 (37-36).
Four golfers, including Clark Wilson (Jr., Ocean Park, WA/Ilwaco HS) of Willamette shared 11th place with scores of 74. Wilson carded 36-38, while Drew Goshong of L&C shot 39-35. Justin Lee from PLU shot 37-37 and Kelekoilo Moore from Pacific shot 38-36.
The UPS Invitational will conclude with the second round, set for Sunday, March 6. Action will begin with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. (PST).
