Behind Mendez and Lowenstein, Gophers Finish Fourth at Gopher Invite

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org

 
  INDEPENDENCE, Minn. – The Baylor University men’s golf team took a commanding 10-stroke lead after two rounds at the 2014 Gopher Invitational at Windsong Farm Golf Club and cruised on the final day Monday, winning the championship by 16 strokes.

The University of Minnesota began the final round in third place, 17 strokes off the lead and carded a 294 during the final round Monday to finish fourth at 31-over par 883.

The Gophers improved upon their fifth place finish from a year ago and were again led by the stellar play of sophomore Jose Mendez during the final round as Mendez recorded his eighth Top-10 finish in just his 13th collegiate event.

Mendez, San Jose, Costa Rica, began his third round on the tenth hole and rolled in a birdie on the 12th to quickly drop to 1-under on the round. After bogeys at the 15th and 17th, Mendez made the turn at 1-over before drawing even with a birdie on No. 1.

He remained even for the next six holes, rolling in consecutive pars before dropping to 1-under with another birdie at the eighth. Mendez would finish the opening tournament of the 2014-15 season with a bogey on the final hole to finish tied for fifth at 2-over par 215.

“I think [Mendez] was a little disappointed to finish with a bogey on the last hole. He hit a good shot into the green, but got a little unlucky. With another top five, he keeps getting better every week,” Carlson said.

Senior Tyler Lowenstein also played a big role for the Gopher this week as Lowenstein recorded his second consecutive Top-10 finish at the Gopher Invite, finishing tied for ninth at 5-over par 218.

Lowenstein, Plymouth, Minn., opened the final round with a bogey but gained a stroke with a birdie on the second. He fell back to 1-over with a bogey on the third, but drew even with another birdie at the fourth.

After rolling in a string of pars, Lowenstein headed to the final nine holes at 1-under after a birdie on the ninth. His fourth birdie of the round put him at 2-under for the day, but lost a stroke on the ensuing hole with a bogey.

Lowenstein ended his final round with a bogey on the 17th hole to card an even par to finish tied for ninth at 218.

“My ball striking didn’t feel as good today—my swing didn’t feel great, but I had a lot of birdie opportunities,” Lowenstein said. “My putter felt pretty solid and I was able to knock some in. I had more birdies today than I’ve had in a while, so that was fun.”

The fourth place finish for the Gophers is the best in six years and Lowenstein said he sees a lot of positives heading to the Windon Memorial in Illinois in two weeks.

“It’s big for our team. We were in third for a while and fell back to fourth, but we still beat a lot of really good teams, which is encouraging considering we lost two starters last year,” he said. “We’re really young, but we’re really talented and we just need to refine the talent that we have and I think we’re going to be pretty solid all year.”

“We’re going to have to work on our games to get back to where we were last year, but this is a solid start. I know could’ve played a little better down the stretch to move up a couple of spots, but overall it was an encouraging week.”

As the only senior on the roster, Lowenstein definitely feels a duty to guide the younger players early in the season.

“I want to try to keep them calm—it’s just golf,” he explained. “Sometimes as a freshman you kind of blow things out of proportion, which is what I did coming in my first year, so I’m trying to learn from my experiences and try to help them that way.”

Junior Jon DuToit tallied a Top-25 finish for the Gophers as he carded a final-round 78 to finish 22nd at 223.

DuToit, Chaska, Minn., carded a pair of bogeys with two double-bogeys on the opening nine Monday, but settled down over the final nine as he rolled in one birdie with two more bogeys to shoot 78 after playing the opening 36 holes at 3-over.

The University of North Carolina-Charlotte’s Victor Wiggins earned medalist honors Monday as he finished at 5-under par 208, four strokes better than New Mexico’s Gavin Green who finished second at 212.

University of Alabama-Birmingham's Lee Hodges recorded his first career double-eagle Monday on the par-5 18th, from 280-yards using a 3-wood.

Immediately following their final rounds Monday Green and Mendez (who were paired together) boarded a plane for Tokyo, Japan to play in the 2014 World Amateur Team Championship.

After the final round Monday, Gopher head coach John Carlson said there are a number of bright spots following the opening tournament of the season, but also some things the young squad will need to work on.

“We played a great front nine, but we really let a good one get away,” Carlson said. “I’m a little disappointed with the way we finished the last three or four holes as a team. I think we were four or five over and we were playing three holes downwind.”

“We had some loose swings that cost us and we didn’t control our ball off the tee the way I try to preach to our guys,” Carlson said. “We had some good things happen—[Lowenstein] had a great round. Following up his win at the North Dakota Open, I couldn’t be more proud of him from where he was last spring until today.”

While the Gophers finished behind Baylor and Cal (ranked No. 29 and 6, respectively, according to Golfweek), they beat a 12th-ranked Alabama-Birmingham team and No. 23 New Mexico.

“I think we take away a lot of confidence,” Carlson said. “I found out we’ve got some young guys that can play. It’s so important that we have depth because I always try to play the hot player. I played a different guy in the Big Ten [Championship] then the week before, and a different guy in regions then the Big Ten.”

The Gophers travel to Evanston, Ill., to play at the Windon Memorial Classic Sept. 21-22.



10TH GOPHER INVITATIONAL
WINDSONG FARM GOLF CLUB
INDEPENDENCE, MINN.
7,152 YARDS, PAR 71


FINAL TEAM RESULTS
1. Baylor, 289-283-290—862
2. California, 293-289-296—878
3. UNC-Charlotte, 296-294-292—882
4. MINNESOTA, 294-295-294—883
5. New Mexico, 292-305-289—886
6. Alabama-Birmingham, 309-290-294—893
7. Kent State, 291-302-302—895
8. Michigan State, 300-302-298—900
9. Virginia Commonwealth, 302-295-305—902
T10. Nebraska, 303-305-303—911
T10. Notre Dame, 302-305-304—911
12. Central Arkansas, 312-305-299—916
13. San Francisco, 321-298-309—928
14. MINNESOTA (B), 314-310-305—929
15. ST. JOHN’S (MINN.), 317-326-316—959


FINAL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Victor Wiggins, Charlotte, 68-69-71—208
2. Gavin Green, New Mexico, 71-73-68—212
T3. Kyle Jones, Baylor, 71-69-73—213
T3. Keelan Kilpatrick, California, 67-75-71—213
T5. JOSE MENDEZ, MINNESOTA, 72-72-71—215
T5. Mikk Bjerch-Andreson, Baylor, 74-68-73—215
T7. Filippo Zucchetti, Baylor, 73-73-70—216
T7. Steffen Harm, VCU, 71-69-76—216
T9. TYLER LOWENSTEIN, MINNESOTA, 73-74-71—218
T9. Raoul Menard, Charlotte, 72-73-73—218

22. JON DUTOIT, MINNESOTA, 73-72-78—223
T37. RUNAR ARNORSSON, MINNESOTA, 74-76-78—228
T37. RILEY JOHNSON, MINNESOTA, 79-79-70—228
T49. DREW LYNCH, ST. JOHN’S, 78-74-81—233
T49. MATT RACHEY, MINNESOTA, 76-83-74—233
T49. WILLIAM LEAF, MINNESOTA, 79-75-79—233
58. GRADY MEYER, MINNESOTA, 80-77-78—235
T62. BRETT DRAXLER, ST. JOHN’S, 77-84-78—239
T62. RYAN GALLAGHER, ST. JOHN’S, 79-82-78—239
T67. DANIEL LUFTSPRING, MINNESOTA, 82-81-78—241
71. CHARLIE DUENSING, MINNESOTA, 87-80-79—246
72. AUSTIN KOTTKE, ST. JOHN’S, 83-86-79—248
73. MITCH PFINGSTEN, ST. JOHN’S, 86-87-81—254