Colorado State men’s golf earned its fourth consecutive title in the annual Ram Masters Invitational on Tuesday. Hosted by CSU, the 54-hole tournament took place over two days at Fort Collins Country Club. Meanwhile, the women played the annual Colonel Wollenburg Ptarmigan Ram Classic at Ptarmigan Country Club.
19 teams came to play in the Invitational and they saw the home team keep the title for the fourth time in six years. The two-day tournament was essentially finished after the first day in which the Rams separated themselves from the field.
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On Monday the Rams shot a single-round record 12-under 268 in the first round, finishing the day with a 14-shot lead over second place finisher, Missouri – Kansas City.
From there, CSU continued to pull away from its opponents, shooting 5-under on the final day. The Rams set another tournament record by finishing a whopping 19 shots ahead of second place UMKC.
“I’m really proud of how our guys came out and finished the tournament today,” head coach Christian Newton said in a statement. “It would have been easy to back off and allow teams to climb back into it. However they came out with an attacking attitude and that made the difference on the day, especially when the wind kicked up in the afternoon. Everyone played very well overall, and I anticipate this will carry over well to our next tournament later this week.”
A.J. Ott led the team with a 4-under par individual score for the tournament, followed closely by teammates Jake Staiano (3-under) and Colton Yates (2-under). Ott, Staiano and Yates finished fourth, fifth and tied for sixth respectively in individual scoring. Freshman Poon Suyasri joined the Rams in the top 10, finishing tied for eighth at 1-under. All but one CSU golfer finished under par.
“Our team mentality, especially after having a good day yesterday, was to go out and fire at some flags and make some birdies,” Ott said. “My mentality today was to not play defensive and I didn’t. We wanted to win by 30 shots, so there is always room for improvement, but I am happy with how we all played with grit under some tough conditions.”
At the Ptarmigan Country Club, junior Katrina Prendergast fired a 7-under in the final round to secure a third place team finish for the Rams. In the ladies’ first tournament of the year, Prendergast finished tied for second with a score of 8-under while teammate Ellen Secor finished 3-under to place fifth. Freshman Haley Greb also impressed, finishing tied for 13th at 3-over. Greb’s score would have led many other teams in the tournament.
The CSU women were one of the most consistent teams of the tournament, but could not overcome the play of Suthavee Chanachai of New Mexico State, who carried the Aggies with her first place finish at 11-under.
Overall it was a more than promising start to the season for the Colorado State golf program, with some promising individual results as well.
Next up for the men is the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate tournament, which will be hosted by New Mexico State on Sep. 22-23. The women will take on the Coeur d’Alene Resort Collegiate Invitational Sep. 26-27, hosted by Gonzaga.
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Collegian sports reporter Mack Beaulieu can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on twitter @Mack_enzie_James
