Men's Golf Takes Eighth at Gopher Invitational

Sept. 8, 2014

INDEPENDENCE, Minn. - The Michigan State men's golf team shot a 14-over-par 298 in the third and final round of the Gopher Invitational on Monday to take eighth overall with a total score of 900 (300-302-298). The 14-team tournament, which featured seven schools that qualified for the NCAA Regionals last season, was held at the par 71, 7,152-yard Windsong Golf Club.

"It's a tough tournament, but we didn't lose any head-to-head matchups to teams that aren't going to be serious NCAA contenders," said MSU head coach Casey Lubahn. "I don't know if it was nerves, but we were really poor around the greens, which is a little unusual for this group. But all in all we made progress, because last year if we started playing poorly, things got away from us, and this tournament we regrouped and settled in."

Sophomore Gareth Lappin carded an even-par 71 on Monday, the lowest single-round of any Spartan in the tournament, to finish tied for 12th place on the individual leaderboard with a 7-over 220 (72-77-71). It marks Lappin's third career top-20 finish in just five stroke-play tournaments.

"In the second round, Gareth shot a 77, and he probably hit the ball just as well as he did in the 71 and 72 rounds," said Lubahn. "He's a really good striker, but he's a better chipper and putter, and he struck it really well this weekend and didn't make a lot of putts, and still finished 12th. So once those putts going in, I think you'll see him continue to contend."

Junior Mitch Rutledge also delivered his best round of the tournament on Monday with a 3-over 74. Overall, he tied for 30th with a 14-over 227 (77-76-74).

Senior Jon Finley shot the third-lowest round of the day for MSU with a 76, while sophomore Charlie Netzel rounded out the team scoring by carding a 77. Netzel tied for 40th place at 229 (76-76-77) and Finley came in 45th (82-73-76--231).

Sophomore Sam Weatherhead posted a 233 (75-77-81) to tie for 49th.

No. 27 Baylor won the tournament with a 10-over 862 (289-283-290), followed by No. 23 California at 26-over 878 (293-289-296). Victor Wiggins of Charlotte claimed medalist honors with a 5-over 208 (68-69-71).

The Spartans will return to action for the Inverness Collegiate Invitational (Sept. 22-23) in Toledo, Ohio.

"We didn't do ourselves significant damage, nor did we help ourselves," said Lubahn. "We were kind of in neutral this week. So we need to be a lot better in Inverness, which is a good place for us, in two weeks. We're going to do some putting work the rest of this week to make sure our guys are understanding their fundamentals. We're always tinkering with the lineup to see if these are the right guys who are playing well at the right time. I think we were positive when we got on the plane last night."