UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – Johannes Hounsgaard put up a second-round 63 (-8) and notched just one bogey over the final two rounds to finish 10-under, 203, for his second runner-up finish in as many weeks to lead Idaho to a second-place finish at the Seattle U Redhawk Invitational at U.S. Open Course, Chambers Bay.
Hounsgaard was one-over after the first round but put up the best round of any player since at least 2015 when
David Nuhn took over head coaching duties. He tallied six birdies and an eagle on the par-4 12th hole. He was five-under on the back nine with no bogies.
He followed up his second round with a three-under 68 in final round, finishing one-stroke behind Oregon State's Jackson Lake who finished 11-under.
Hounsgaard's performance led the Vandals to the second team runner-up finish in a row. The Vandals were even-par after the first round, but spurred by Hounsgaard's second round, Idaho jumped into second place. The Vandals held off tournament host Seattle U to finish six-under for the tournament with a final score of 846 while Oregon State pulled away for the team win.
"It was very nice to finish second at Chambers Bay," Nuhn said. "Hats off to Oregon state, they played great and deserve that victory this week. Awesome stuff out of Johannes for the second week in a row. Proud of his play of late. That 63 in round two was pretty special."
Sam Johnson, riding a first-round 66 (5-under) and second round 69 (2-under) finished the tournament two-under, good enough for to tie for an eighth-place finish, his third top-10 finish of the year.
Joe Sykes scored a third-round 69 (2-under) to climb to T35 overall with the final score of 217.
TJ Patterson finished with first round at even-par 71 before closing the tournament at seven-over to tie for 51st.
Matt McGann closed out the scoring for the Vandals at eight-over to tie for 56th, but had a pair of solid two-over 73s in the second and third round.
"Sam played solid for us on day one and every member of the team contributed to our success this week," Nuhn said. "I feel like things are coming together at the right time, but there is still plenty we can clean up in practice the next few weeks."
Tommy Kimmel, golfing as an individual, finished 25-over to take 100th-place.
As a team, Idaho recorded 56 birdies, second among teams in the field and four eagles, first among teams on the weekend.
The Vandals are back in action on April 15-16 for the State of Idaho Dual against Boise State to close out the regular season before playing the for the Big Sky Conference Championship on April 22-24 at Wigwam golf Club in Litchfield Park, Arizona.
