LIHUE, Hawaii – Grand Canyon men’s golf improved each day after the first round of the John A. Burns Intercollegiate Thursday, finishing 13th out of 19 schools and seeing four of five Lopes move up the player standings in Saturday’s final round.
FINAL RESULTS
The Lopes shot 22 over in total and 5 over Saturday. After an 11 over Thursday afternoon through the first 18 holes, GCU settled down and shot 11 over through the final 36 holes.
In a loaded field that included seven teams ranked in the Clippd Scoreboard Top 50, Loyola Marymount won the tournament at 10 under par. No. 38 UNLV tied with No. 32 Texas A&M for second place with 5 under scores.
The John A. Burns Intercollegiate was hosted by Ocean Course Hokuala, a par 70, 7,156-yard course on the island of Kaua’i.
Junior Gavin O’Neill and sophomore Nixon Lauritzen shot the same score in round two and mirrored that in round three, both going 1 over to finish in a tie for 38th at 5 over. The duo combined for nine birdies Saturday as Lauritzen sunk five including three straight on holes 16, 17, 18.
Sophomore Matthew Diehl moved up 18 spots from his day two position and matched Lauritzen and O’Neill’s 1 over final round. Diehl went 7 over for the tournament and tied for 49th, recording two birdies and 15 birdies in his final round.
Sophomore Måns Boje finished tied for 73rd with freshman Daniel Nilsson. Boje went 2 over with four birdies and Nilsson 5 over with an eagle to his name in the final round.
GCU had 172 pars for the tournament, tied fourth most among the 19 teams. Diehl’s 39 were tied fifth most among the 111-player field. The team also shot 13 under on par five holes, tied sixth best.
The Lopes’ next event is the Loyola Intercollegiate, where select individuals from the team will compete Sunday, Feb. 15 through Tuesday, Feb. 17. The team’s next competition following is the Arizona Thunderbird Intercollegiate at the Tucson Country Club Monday, March 16.