SPOKANE, Wash. Luc Birchfield moved up five spots on the final leaderboard after Monday's second and final round of the Whitworth Men's Invitational at Kalispel Country Club. The sophomore finished in 14th place with a 10-over par 154 (78-76), helping the Blues post a two-day team score of 655 (332-323) which slotted the team in seventh place.
Birchfield's 76 on Monday at the par-72, 6,645-yard layout included two of his three birdies at the Invitational, along with 10 pars. He opened and closed his round Monday with three consecutive pars.
Mario Santos-Davidson (T-26th; 77-83—160), who birdied twice Sunday during his opening-day round, had a solid Monday with 10 pars but his round also included three double-bogeys to alter what was shaping up to be at least as good of a round as his opener.
First-year
Eric Wasserman (T-29th; 82-81—163) carded eight pars on both days while adding in birdies on Nos. 2 and 17 Monday, with only a triple on the par-5 16th preventing him from moving up more than the two spots he shifted upward on Monday.
Among the best string of holes from any of the Blues on Monday came from
Nick Xiang (T-29th; 85-83—168) who posted three consecutive pars, a birdie, and two more pars on Nos. 12-18 on Monday.
Tobias Zabel (T-37th; 88-81—169),
Will Selman (T-43rd; 90-88—178) and
Charlie Schneider (T-43rd; 95-83—178) did their best to match Xiang with spurts of their own Monday. Zabel went par, par, par, birdie on Nos. 6-9, and then par, birdie, par, par on Nos. 15-18; Selman sandwiched two pars around a birdie on Nos. 8-11; and Schneider dropped in four consecutive pars on Nos. 12-15 in posting a season-best 83.
Whitman's other individual,
Matthew Bowman (46th; 98-90—188), in his first collegiate tournament recorded six pars on Monday, grouping them together on Nos. 5,6,7, 9 and 10.
Sam Hinton (71-70—141, -3) took home individual medalist honors for Willamette University, the team champion with a 7-over 583 (295-288).
The men head back out there again on Saturday and Sunday in Gearhart, Oregon, where they will play in the George Fox Invitational.
