The Idaho men’s golf team took 31 strokes off its first round performance to climb into ninth place during the second and final day at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The tournament was scheduled to be a three-round competition, but the competition was cut to 36 holes after day one’s second round was cancelled because of windy conditions on the course.
Gonzaga won the tournament, shooting a 574, with Colorado coming in second six strokes back at 582. Tulsa and St. Mary’s tied for third at 582.
Despite his team coming in at 14th, UC Santa Barbara’s Glen Scher took home the individual medal, shooting a 138, which was the only sub-par performance of the tournament. Tulsa’s Logan McCracken and St. Mary’s Mac McClung and Jonathan De Los Reyes tied for second just two strokes back of Scher.
The Vandals were in in 17th place after the first day, shooting 312. The Vandals recovered on the second day to shoot a 281 and climb into a tie for ninth with Colorado State.
Idaho had two players in the top 20 in sophomores Sean McMullen and Zach Wanderscheid, who finished in 19th. The pair had identical scores, shooting a 76 on day one and 70 on day two. Sophomore Aaron Cockerill finished in 33rd for Idaho and freshman Dylan Baker finished in 72nd.
Senior Gordon Webb, who has been Idaho’s best player this spring, finishing in sixth the last time out at the Desert Shootout, struggled in this tournament, coming in at 105th. Webb shot an 85 in round one and managed to trim 11 stokes off his second for a 74 in round two, but it wasn’t enough to climb out of the hole of his first round.
The Vandals will have one last tune-up before the WAC Tournament, when they travel to Sacramento for the Winchester Classic, which runs April 19-20. The Vandals will then shift their focus to the WAC Championship, which will take place April 29- May 1 in Las Vegas.
Kevin Bingaman can be reached at [email protected]