Weather beaters finish one-two in St. Martin’s golf invite
Rain and wind inundated the Olympia Country & Golf Club so badly Friday that the St. Martin’s Invitational golf tournament was shortened to 36 holes instead of the scheduled 54.
Many players saw their scores drop precipitously on Saturday from the numbers they put up in Friday’s downpour. Hawaii-Hilo’s Trevor Kua shot a 90 on Friday, and a 71 on Saturday.
But medalist Andrew Harrison, a University of British Columbia sophomore, and runner-up Colby Dean of team champion Chico State, took the opposite route, shooting in the 60s on Friday and par or above on Saturday.
Harrison, whose 67 gave him the first-round lead, said he was more focused on the competition with Dean, playing the same group on his way to a 68, than the weather.
“Colby was playing just as well as I was,” said Harrison, who followed up with an even-par 71 in the second round. “I was caught up in that, not the rain. Today was a little harder, having to play as the leader.”
Harrison and Dean were on the 13th hole when it was announced that Friday’s schedule would be cut from 36 to 18 holes.
“I would have liked to keep going,” Harrison said. “But all in all, I can’t complain, coming out on top.”
Dean, a junior from Eagle, Idaho, who shot a 72 on Saturday, agreed.
“When they said we’d only be going 18, it changed things,” he said. “There’d be less time to make birdies, so I figured I’d better do it now. I’m from the Pacific Northwest, so I’m used to the weather. I take the mindset that everyone has to play in it.”
Nonetheless, Dean’s Wildcats teammates played much better out of the weather. On Saturday, Chico shot a team score of 277, 22 strokes fewer than its Friday score, to total 576 and win the team title by six strokes over CSU-Monterey Bay, a team helped by former St. Martin’s player Matthew Hedges’ fifth-place individual finish.
Harrison’s UBC team was third at 585, while the host Saints wound up tied for seventh with 596.
Austin Spicer, a senior from Gresham, Oregon, paced St. Martin’s with a two-day total of 144. Jared Rasmussen, an SMU senior from W.F. West, shot 147.
“I was really proud of the way we played as a team in the weather,” St. Martin’s coach Kevin Bishop said after his team followed up a season-opening first round of 296 with a 300. “Today we needed to stay in the moment more rather than looking ahead to how well we wanted to start the season.”
Two other players with local ties were in the field.
Connor Miele, another transfer from St. Martin’s, paced Montana-Billings with a 154 while Colorado Christian’s Nolan Backman, a redshirt freshman from Olympia High School, had back-to-back 78s for 156.
Defending champion Chris Chrisologo of Simon Fraser, who had a 62 during the middle round of last year’s event, tied Spicer for seventh this time at 144.
Most of the teams in the Saint Martin’s Invitational, including the Saints, move north on Monday to play in the Western Washington Invitational at Bellingham Golf and Country Club.
CROSS COUNTRY
Shannon Porter won her second individual title of the season at the Saint Martin’s Invitational on Saturday morning in Lacey.
Porter — who was the top runner at the Puget Sound Invitational on Sept. 3, and took fifth at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle on Sept. 17 — finished the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 50.1 seconds.
The SMU women’s team finished third in a field of 11 schools, while Seattle Pacific won the title.
Josiah Shelman was the top finisher for the Saints in the 8,000-meter men’s race. He finished 15th in 27:00.5.
The SMU men’s team took fifth, while Lane Community College (Oregon) topped the 13-team field.
This story was originally published September 24, 2016 at 10:28 PM with the headline "Weather beaters finish one-two in St. Martin’s golf invite."