Above photo courtesy of the UMHB athletics department/Twitter/@CRUMensGolf
ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana– William Sammons finished the fall on fire.
A day after his birthday on Tuesday afternoon, the junior won the individual title at the ASC Preview, carding a score of 139, which was five below par.
Amongst that total score, he tallied eight birdies and an eagle, winning the title by six strokes. It marked a second straight individual tournament victory for Sammons, who topped the player leaderboard at the Alamo City Invite last week, earning the win on a playoff hole.
“Will is steady,” UMHB head coach Jordan Cox said of Sammons. “He processes well.”
That attribute was certainly evident in his play on the back nine in Tuesday’s final round. He finished the front nine at -1, but after a double bogey on the 12th hole, and a bogey on the 15th, he sat at a +2, with just three holes left to play. Incredibly, he recorded an eagle on the par-five hole, and, with two additional pars to close out the round, finished even on the tournament’s final day.
“He’s very dedicated to his routine and is putting the ball super well,” Cox added. “We are very proud of him, especially for the tournaments he’s played in the last three weeks.”
As a team, the Crusaders were just as successful in Brownwood, taking the team title by nine strokes, with a score of 585 (+9). ETBU placed second, and LeTourneau and Concordia (TX) were just one stroke back, tying for third.
In addition to Sammons, contributing to the victory was Grant Carter, who tied for fifth, and Trey Archer who tied for seventh. Luke Lohman was UMHB’s fourth top-20 finisher, in 16th place, and Darian Ruiz, Kyle Wandel, Harrison Jaeger and Nikolas Keratsopoulous all finished in the top 40 for the Cru.
Heading into day two on Tuesday, UMHB, sitting in second-place, trailed Concordia by three strokes. But the Crusaders finished exceptionally well in the final round, battling colder weather than they had played in previously this fall, and slid into first place. Their round two score of 293 was the best in the tournament’s seven-team field by five strokes.
“We knew with the colder and windier conditions today that if we stuck with our game plan and stayed dedicated, we would be in pretty good shape at the end of the day,” Cox said on Tuesday evening. “And these guys never quit, even with things got a little choppy.”
The victory caps off UMHB’s fall schedule, as the Cru will now look ahead to the spring, when the ASC and NCAA Championships will be contested. Tuesday’s win marked the Crusaders’ first win of the fall.
“We have really come together the last several weeks,” Cox told True To The Cru, “and I’m super proud of them as we conclude this semester.”
Thanks for the article Riley! Super job. – just to clarify, we played the conference preview in Alexandria, La., not Brownwood, but the win was sweet regardless of the location 🙂 And #GoCru