RELATED LINKSFinal results
HOUSTON — Sophomore Ryan Werre tied for fourth place to lead the UTSA men’s golf team to fifth at the Rice Intercollegiate, which wrapped up Tuesday at Westwood Golf Club (par 72/7,184 yards).
Werre entered the day in a tie for third place at two-under-par 142 after firing rounds of 70 and 72 on Monday. The Redcliff, Alberta, native carded a one-under 71 to finish in a three-way tie with Houston's Jesse Droemer and Missouri State's Jordan McLaurin for fourth place at three-under 213, bettering his previous UTSA career best of 214 recorded at the 2011 Southland Conference Championship. It marked his third career top 10-finish and second in the top five after his third-place effort at the league championship last spring. Werre added three more birdies on Tuesday to bring his 54-hole tally to 11 and he was the only golfer in the field to play the par threes in red numbers (-1) for the tournament.
Werre’s career-best scorecard helped lead the Roadrunners to fifth place in the 15-team field, their best finish of the 2011-12 season and top showing since also placing fifth at the Kauai Collegiate Invitational from Oct. 24-26, 2010.
UTSA followed Monday’s efforts of 294 and 291 with a two-over 290, their best round since an even-par 288 at last year’s Southland Tournament. The Birds finished at 11-over 875, one shot behind No. 35 Wichita State for fourth place and just three shots back of Florida Gulf Coast (872) for third.
Junior Stanton Tondre turned in his second consecutive and third overall top-25 finish by tying for 24th. The Castroville native posted rounds of 76, 72 and 73 to end up at five-over 221.
Junior Mitchell Griffin and redshirt freshman Martin Board were one shot behind Tondre in a tie for 32nd. Griffin was even on Tuesday after carding a 74 and 76 on Monday, while Board followed a 76 and 72 with a two-over 74. Junior Taylor Koser tied for 46th at 224 (74-75-75).
Northwestern won the team title by four shots with an 862 (289-287-286) ahead of Houston’s 866 (291-291-284). The Roadrunners edged Louisiana Tech (876) for the top five and Louisiana-Monroe (879), Texas State (884), Kansas State (885) and New Mexico State (887) rounded out the top 10.
Northwestern’s Eric Chun and New Mexico State’s Zachery Fullerton tied for the individual lead at six-under 210. Fullerton won a sudden-death playoff on the third hole to take medalist honors.
The Roadrunners return to the course in two weeks when they travel to Lafayette, La., to compete at the Louisiana Classic. The two-day tournament tees off on Monday, March 5.