Record-Setting Andrews Leads Tigers To Tourney Title At Denison
Wittenberg will carry 13-stroke lead into last two rounds of NCAC Championship Series after solid win in Ted Barclay Invitational.
|
| Alex Andrews tied the school record for single round scoring with a five-under-par 66 in Round 2 of the Ted Barclay Invitational. (Photo Courtesy Denison Sports Information) |
GRANVILLE, Ohio – Halfway home. That's where the Wittenberg men's golf team stands after the first of two weekends that make up the 2013 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship Series after the Tigers captured first place in Denison's Ted Barclay Spring Invitational.
Ranked 14th nationally and the odds-on favorite to win a fourth consecutive NCAC title, Wittenberg carded scores of 295 and 291 to comfortably lead the 10-team field. Ohio Wesleyan finished second with a two-day total of 599 to finish 13 strokes behind, followed by surprising Kenyon in third place at 613.
The Tigers will carry that 13-stroke advantage into the second half of the NCAC Championship Series, to be played at Oakhaven Golf Course in Delaware, Ohio, May 4-5.
The individual story of the tournament – and Wittenberg's season, for that matter – continues to be sophomore Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy). After making the loop at the par-71, 6,559-yard Granville Golf Course in one-over-par 72 on Day 1, Andrews equaled the best round in Wittenberg history with a 66 in the second round.
His four-under-par total of 138 blew away the field, with Jack Tomashot of Kenyon placing second at 146. For Andrews, the 138 was easily his best while wearing the Red & White, beating the 143 he shot in his first collegiate tournament – ironically, the 2012 Denison Fall Classic. His second-day 66 matched the school-record score posted by Bleu George on the same course in the 2009 Denison Fall Classic, and his 138 was just three strokes off the program standard by Craig Osterbrock in rounds 2 and 3 of the four-round Golfweek Fall Invitational in 2010.
For the season, Andrews is averaging a sizzling 73.8, now with two first-place finishes and three top-five performances during the 2012-13 campaign. He came into the weekend ranked 25th nationally in stroke average. His scores in the Ted Barclay Invitational will likely move him into the top 15.
Andrews had plenty of help, however. Freshman Sam Geise (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) continued his late-season surge, carding rounds of 75 and 74 to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place at 149. Junior David Wetterich (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) placed eighth with a 151, and juniors Ben Hogenkamp (Minster, Ohio/Minster) and Jack Uecker (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) rounded things out with matching totals of 153 to finish tied for 13th.