MADISON, Ill. – Freshman Joe Sykes carded a third-round four-under 67 to lead the Idaho Vandal men's golf team to a championship finish at the SIUE Dolenc Invitational Tuesday at the Gateway Golf Links across the Mississippi from downtown St. Louis.

Sykes, playing in his first collegiate tournament, tallied five birdies to just one bogey on the round. He jumped six spots from a tie for 10th to earn a fourth-place finish.

The Vandals had four players in the top 13 of the tournament field and edged out reigning Big Sky Champions Weber State by two strokes. Idaho put up a three-round score of 865 to Weber State's 867.  

Jose Suryadinata tallied a one-over 72 Tuesday to finish tied for ninth, Sam Johnson battled through a tough stretch and finished the tournament with an eagle on 18 to finish four-over on the day and for the tournament to finish tied for 13th. Colt Sherrell finished tied for 26th with a three-round score of 221 and T.J. Patterson finished tied for 40th with a three-round score of 223.

Matt McGann, competing as an individual, finished all alone in eighth place after carding a two-over 72 in his final round.

The win comes on the heels of a disappointing performance at Air Force in the season opener. The team went to work and bought in on putting in the work.

"This win speaks a lot to their faith in what we are doing when people aren't watching," head coach David Nuhn said. "They showed their commitment to making it hard on themselves to build some toughness. We rose to the challenge this week and bounced back when we struggled. The resiliency was a big difference between us and other teams."

The tournament team win is the first for the Vandals since capturing the Big Sky title in 2016.

Nuhn was pleased with the performance of Sykes and Johnson, both freshmen. The duo finished in the top three of the lineup for the Vandals.

"I couldn't be prouder of their poise and self-awareness in the moment," Nuhn said. "This was Joe's first tournament and to finish with three birdies in the final four holes was huge and even as a freshman, he didn't let the moment get too big for him. Sam had a tough day, but he battled through and eagled the last hole to give himself a chance to help us out if we needed to use his score. It was impressive to see their resilience."

The road only gets tougher, Idaho next heads to Corvallis, Oregon to face tough competition at the Oregon State Invite. The field will be much tougher, including many of the top teams in the Pac-12 and around the West Coast, but this week's win helps build confidence.

"This shows me what we are capable of," Nuhn said. "We've seen what can happen but going forward we still need to get better, do the work and be more prepared for the next challenge. Oregon State is going to have a very good field, and you never know what the weather will bring so we need to get back to work and get better for next time."

The Vandals take the course at Trysting Tree in Corvallis on Monday, Oct. 10.