From March 30 to April 1 the USF Dons men’s golf team competed in the prestigious 2012 U.S. Intercollegiate tournament hosted by Stanford University at the Stanford Golf Course. The Dons finished 13th overall in the three-day event that was littered with talent. The tournament boasted six teams ranked in the top-15 nationally including number 13 San Diego State, number 12 ranked Oregon, number 11 Stanford, number 7 Washington, number 5 USC and number 4 ranked UCLA. The tournament was formatted so that each team would play 54 holes of golf over three days. The Stanford Golf Course is a par 70 and runs 6,727 yards in length.
Opening day of the tournament, the Dons were led by freshman Emil Liljeroth who shot an even 70. The native of Sweden shot four birdies in his final nine holes and earned himself a share of 17th place for the day. Junior Taylor Travis, ranked number 107 individually in the nation, and freshman Jobim Carlos placed 25th after the first day of competition each shooting one over par 71s. Travis came back from three over with three holes to play and punched an eagle on a par 5 7th hole and a birdie on number 8. Carlos also had a standout performance leading the team with six birdies in the first round. After the first day of play, the Oregon Ducks were first in the field, shooting eight under for a five stroke lead against the second place Bruins of UCLA.
Day two of the tournament started with inclement weather and a USF tee-off at 9:30am. The extreme weather conditions had varying effects on the golfers. The rain caused the greens to become much softer, allowing many golfers to chip their approach shots closer to the holes. On the other hand, any drives outside of the fairway made for impossible second shots out of the rough. Jobim Carlos had another stand out round, shooting three over par with two birdies. He entered the third round in 18th place with a score of 144. Taylor Travis shot a 74 and posted his second eagle of the tournament, placing himself in 25th place overall with a score of 145. After day two USF sat in 10th place overall while Oregon continued to hold the lead, 4 under, with a team score of 556 (272, 284). In second place was USC at four over with a team score of 564.
In the final day of competition the Dons shot a 299 that earned them a 13th place finish in the tournament. Senior Ji Hwan Park paced the team with a low score of 72 with a team high five birdies on the final 18 holes. Jobim Carlos was the top individual finisher for USF, finishing the event nine over in 32nd place. The Ducks barely squeezed out a win over USC in the final round to take first place in the Invitational. This was mostly due to the outstanding play of Ducks senior Daniel Miernicki, who shot a 204 and won by five strokes over the UCLA pair of Pedro Figueiredo (second-tie, 67-74-68-209) and Jay Hwang (second-tie, 70-71-68-209) and USC’s Sam Smith (second-tie, 70-69-70-209).
The University of San Francisco men’s golf team returns to action on Monday April 9 in the 2012 Braveheart Invitational, hosted by UC Riverside.
