PASCO, Wash. It took some re-jiggering, but Whitman's March 10-11 Sunshine Invitational at Sun Willows Golf Course finally drew to a conclusion late Sunday afternoon, with the host Blues settling into a fifth-place finish, of seven, and led by
Mario Santos-Davidson who registered a 16th-place (tie) finish on the individual leaderboard.
Originally scheduled as a two-day, 36 hole tournament on the 6,785-yard, par-72 layout, Saturday's opening round was surprisingly delayed hours because of frost, resulting in less than 20 players completing their 18-hole opening round.
Hopes that those who hadn't finished could pick up on the course Sunday morning, then proceed with their 18-hole second round were dashed with early morning complications. It was determined that because all players had completed the front nine on Saturday the tournament would be abbreviated to a 27-hole competition -- the front-nine scores from Saturday and the 18-hole rounds on Sunday.
Linfield College (149-299—448, plus-16) captured the team title with a five-stroke victory over runner-up George Fox University (148-305—453, +21). Whitman finished in fifth with a 45-over par 477 (157-320).
Mason Koch (34-74—108, Even) of Fox took home individual medalist honors with a one-stroke victory over Whitworth University's Sam Stiles (36-73—109, +1).
Santos-Davidson (35-81—116, +8) carded the lowest Day 1 total for Whitman with a 1-under round before finishing in that tie for 16th by Sunday evening.
Will Selman (37-82—119, +11) posted the second-best score for the weekend by a Blues golfer and finished in 24th place.
Finishing within four strokes of each other were Whitman's next four golfers --
Eric Wasserman (T-25, 38-81—120),
Luc Birchfield (T-28, 42-79—121),
Jimmy Jacobson (T-32, 41-82—123) and
Charlie Schneider (T-32, 44-79—123).
Matthew Bowman (45-88—133) and
Carl Felstiner (55-94—149) rounded out the Blues' contingent at the Invitational.
Whitman tees it up next at the Northwest Conference Spring Classic on April 7-8 at Hangman Valley Golf Course in Spokane, Washington.
