news&scores
McNeese finishes 8th in NCCA Regional
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STILLWATER, Oklahoma – McNeese’s
run in the 2016 NCAA Men’s Golf
postseason came to an end Wednesday
when the Cowboys finished tied for eighth
in the 14-team Stillwater region, missing
out on the cut to advance to the NCAA
championships by 14 strokes.
Oklahoma State won the event with
a three-round team total score of 871.
Advancing to the finals with OSU will be
Oklahoma (890), Clemson (901), Louisville
(907) and Purdue (910).
McNeese finished with a 924 tying with
Michigan State and Duke.
“This is a tough way to end an awesome
year,” said head coach Austin Burk. “This
course (Karsten Creek GC) is one of the
toughest in the nation and there is just no
way to prepare for it. Aside from Blake’s
(Elliott) first round and Andrea’s (Krokeide)
second round, we never got it going. But I
am proud of the guys for how hard they
fought this week.”
The Cowboys put themselves in position
to grab one of the top five spots to advance
to the finals following Tuesday’s second
round with a strong back nine of holes that
had them enter the final round just four
strokes out of fifth place.
On Wednesday, a couple of quick birdies
by Krokeide and Elliott pulled McNeese
to within one stroke of fifth. But the
challenging layout of the course caught up
to the Cowboys later in the first half of the
round, and McNeese found itself too far
back to mount any rally.
Krokeide led the team for the second
straight day after shooting a 3-over 75. He
ended up being the top Cowboy on the
leaderboard for the tournament at 10-over
with a 226 and tying for 17th place. Martin
Eriksson followed with a 229 after hitting a
76 on the final round while Duncan McNeill
scored a 236. Rounding out the Cowboys
for the tournament were Ian Berrigan with
a 240 and Elliott at 246.