Michael Baham
Staff Writer
The WCC golf championships were held in Provo, Utah at the Riverside Country Club. USF took a share of sixth-place with a final score of 865(+1), along with Loyola Marymount University.
Saturday was the best day of the three-days on the course for San Francisco. As a team, four players shot under par for a final of score 278(-10) on the day. That propelled the Dons into sixth place. Their final round also matched their previous best round of the year. That was also the best Saturday of all the participating teams by at least three strokes.
Head coach Jack Kennedy told usfdons.com, “Today was the type of golf I expected us to play this week. It was great to close with such a flurry but unfortunately we dug too big of a hole for ourselves in the second round and didn’t come away with the result we were hoping for this week. That said, I think we laid the foundation of what USF gold can be in the future.”
Freshman Tim Widing was phenomenal, entering the final day just three strokes short of the lead. A solid 68 on Saturday gave him a final score of 208 (-8) and took third in the individual standings. Widing was just one-stroke out of the lead and 5-under after eleven holes played but played his last six holes at 1-over.
Senior Max Alcorn shot a 69 in his final collegiate round and took a share of twentieth place with a final score just over even, 217(+1). Senior Michael D’Angelo and junior Henry Chung both took a share of thirty-first with final scores of 220(+4). D’Angelo tallied a 70(-2) and Chung a 71(-1) on the final day. Junior Jalen Griffin made five birdies in his final round and scored a 75(+3) and finished at 227(+11) for a share of thirty-ninth.
BYU took first in the competition with a score of 840(-24), Pepperdine second 847(-17) and St. Mary’s third 852(-12).
Widing will be participating in the NCAA Regionals and may have a shot at the national championships. Coach Kennedy had this to say to usfdons.com on Widing, “His quality of play hasn’t been seen at USF in quite some time. While he wasn’t able to break into the winner’s circle this week, he left with a lot of confidence in his abilities to make a run in the upcoming NCAA regionals. I would not be surprised to see him make it through to the national championships.”
With Widing moving on, the rest of the Dons will be on break. The team will look to build off of this year strong campaign in the 2017-2018 season.
Photos: Dons Athletics/ Flickr
