SAN DIEGO –
Johannes Hounsgaard finished five under to earn runner-up individual honors, leading the Vandal men's golf team to a second-place finish at the UC San Diego Invitational on the North Course at legendary Torrey Pines, Tuesday.
"I am extremely proud of the whole team this week," Head coach
David Nuhn said. "I thought they worked hard in practice, then prepared to battle in a tough round one. After that, they played great in rounds two and three to have our best finish of the season so far. I'm thrilled for Johannes, playing to his ability and showing everyone he's as talented as we all know he is. More things are coming for that guy. I'm also proud of the guys that counted valuable rounds, which is every other guy here."
The Vandals racked up 48 birdies in the tournament, including 13 from Hounsgaard. His finished first-round even par 72 before golfing a three-under 69 in round two and two-under 70 in round three.
TJ Patterson finished 24th overall at four-over for the tournament. After struggling in his opening round, before he went one-under over the final two rounds to help the team score and move into the top-25.
Sam Johnson also followed up a slow first round with strong second and third rounds to battle to a T40th finish at six-over.
Matt McGann was tied for first after round one, but struggled in round two before battling back with an even-par 72 in round three to finish tied for 46th at seven-over.
Joe Sykes was even-par for the last two rounds and finished tied for 63rd.
As a team, Idaho was ten-over at 298 after the first round, but battled back to four-under rounds of 284 over the final two rounds to close out the tournament two-over as a team, nine-strokes back of tournament champion North Dakota State.
"TJ showed he's not ready to finish his college career quite yet, Sam with two great rounds to finish, and Matt and Joe also also had two solid rounds each," Nuhn said. "That's what we need to be a competitive team, everyone playing well and complimenting each other. When one guy has an off day, the other four pick them up and get it done. That was great to see this week. We are looking forward to Chambers Bay and the chance to defend our 2023 title there next week."
The Vandals have three events remaining, starting with the Redhawk Invitational at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Washington, scheduled for April 1-2.
