Oct. 23, 2009

LONG BEACH – Long Beach State senior men’s golfer Michael Drake fired a 65 and 66 on the final day of the 14th Annual Del Walker Intercollegiate Golf Classic to capture the individual medalist at the Virginia Country Club in Long Beach. Drake finished the three-round tournament with an 11-under par 199 to hold a two-stroke lead over Riley Arp of Colorado State and Scott Travers of Santa Clara.

“It feels pretty good and pretty surreal right now,” said Drake. “I knew where I was coming down the stretch with the last two rounds. I was pretty nervous, but I was able to stay calm. I told myself, win or lose that I was pretty satisfied the way I played today!”

Drake carded a two-under 68 on Thursday’s opening round to tie for eighth place. After the second round was suspended due to darkness, play resumed Friday morning with Drake recording an eagle on the par-five 18th hole. He also had four birdies and just one bogey for the round as he continued to move up in the standings with a five-under 65 to finish in fourth. In the final round, Drake continued with his stellar performance going bogey free, while recording four birdies as he carded a four-under 66 and held onto his two-stroke lead.

Colorado State ran away with the team title for the third straight year as the Rams finished with a tournament total of 20-under 1030. The 49ers made a valiant effort as they finished in second place, just nine strokes behind the Rams with a score of 11-under 1039. Oregon, finished in third with a 1042 and Santa Clara in fourth with a 1048.

The 49ers carded a 351 and 352 in the first two rounds and came roaring back with a 336.

LBSU was also led by sophomore Benjamin Lein and senior Steve Gibson as both players finished in the top 20. Lein tied for eighth as he carded scores of 69 and 67 on Friday to finish five-under 205. Gibson tied for 17th as he sizzled with a final round of 65 to finish with a two-under 208. Gibson’s 65 matched his career low round as he recorded the same score in the same round at last year’s Del Walker Invitational. This was Gibson’s second consecutive top 20 finish and sixth overall in his career at LBSU.

Freshman Raymond Ho moved up nine spots in the standings as he tied for 57th after carding rounds of 73-74-70 for a seven-over 217.

Fellow classmate Philip Chain finished in 66th with rounds of 74-71-74 for a nine-over 219.

Playing as individuals, sophomore Austin Love tied for 46th with a 215 (74-72-69) and senior Robbie Berton closed out the tournament in 89th with a 228 (73-79-76)

“First of all, congratulations to Michael on a great performance these last two days,” said 49er Head Coach Bill Poutre. “It’s his first college win at Virginia Country Club, so it’s pretty special to him right now. I’m pretty happy on how the team played and came very close to winning our tournament. This was one of the strongest fields we’ve had at the Del Walker and to come out beat teams such as Arizona and Oregon, shows that our team has the potential to play with anyone!”

The 49ers return to action as they travel to Kahuku, Hawaii, Nov. 2-4, for the Turtle Bay Invitational hosted by the University of Hawaii.

SPOKANE, Wash. – One day after Sage Suffecool tied the school record with a 70, freshman Victoria Fallgren shattered the mark with a final-round 67 Tuesday on her way to medalist honors of the Bulldog and Eagle Invitational women’s golf tournament at Hangman Valley Golf Course.
Fallgren, who captured the title in her collegiate debut, capped a record-setting tournament for the Bulldogs.
In addition to her record round, her 54-hole score of 217 set the mark for the lowest 54-hole score. The previous mark was held by current Bulldog Jessica Howe and Mary Kate Morgan at 220. Howe recorded her score at the CU Heather Farr Memorial hosted by the University of Colorado last year, while Morgan’s came in 2005 at the Ptarmigan/Ram Fall Classic hosted by Colorado State University.
Northern Arizona University, the defending Big Sky Conference champions, captured the team title with a 900 beating the University of Montana at 906 and the Bulldogs at 913.
“I’m kind of surprised I was as tired as I thought I’d be,” Fallgren said of her Tuesday round coming off 36 holes Monday. “I struck the ball well on the range, then got in a groove on the course.”
The turning point of her record-setting round was “when I birdied number four as opposed to doubling (bogey) it like I did the first round,” she said. “I know a lot of freshmen struggle when they get into college so this is nice.”
Fallgren didn’t know she was on a record pace.
“Cool. I’m surprised no one had gotten lower,” she said of the record-setting round.
Suffecool took her finish in stride after going into the final round with the lead, and had nothing but compliments for her teammate.
“Not good today,” the junior said of her round. “I had a lot of putts. I thought I was going to win, that was my mindset. I had some bad shots and let my emotions get to me a little bit. I finished the last six holes in 1-under so that was okay.
“I played well yesterday but I still feel I left a lot of good shots out there but it’s encouraging for the season,” she said.
Suffecool was happy for Fallgren.
“It’s definitely good to see Victoria win her first tournament ever. I think we can be pretty good. If we all have our good days, which we should eventually, I think we’ll be okay. We can’t have the first two rounds like we did yesterday (Monday). Today was better,” the team captain said.
“There’s room for improvement. We just need to play normal,” Fallgren said.
Head coach Brad Rickel was more than pleased with the individual accolades.
“Obviously, we are incredibly excited about our individual finishes. Victoria proved what I already knew is that she’s going to be possibly one of the best freshmen in the country and a final-round 67 beats every record we’ve ever had here. We’ll get to a stronger field next week and see how we fair there,” Rickel said in reference to next week’s tournament at Washington State University.
” Sage played a great two rounds, had a lead and ended up staying in second place. It wasn’t quite her day but she battled and finished 1-under for her last six holes. And then Genna finishing in the top 10. So we have two freshmen, one taking first and one taking ninth. Genna probably should have been in the lineup this weekend next week she will,” Rickel said.
Among the other marks the Bulldogs set or tied:
*The 297 the Bulldogs shot in Tuesday’s final round ties the second-best 18-hole score. The Bulldogs set the mark in the 2006 Inland Empire Women’s Intercollegiate played at Hangman Valley and equaled it last season in the CU Heather Farr Memorial.
*Gonzaga’s 913 is the second-lowest 54-hole tournament score, set in the 2006 I.E. Women’s Invitational.
*Suffecool’s 36-hole total of 144 Monday tied the mark set by Howe last year in the Fresno State Lexus Classic hosted by Fresno State University.
After opening with a bogey Tuesday, Fallgren rattled off birdies on 2, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 13 until bogeying 16 and finishing with a birdie on the 18th.
Suffecool, who entered Tuesday’s final round with a 4-stroke lead, had birdies at 3 and 5 but bogeyed 4, 8, 9 and 10, took a double bogey at 12 and birdied 15. She finished the last six holes 1-under par.
Suffecool finished tied for second with Carissa Simmons of the University of Montana at 221. Simmons won the tie-breaker for trophy purposes by virtue of her birdie on 18 Tuesday while Suffecool shot par.
Overshadowed by Fallgren and Suffecool was the play of freshman Genna Dodge, who was entered as an individual in the tournament. After an opening-round 81 she posted back-to-back 73s to finish tied for ninth at 227. Her round included two birdies and three bogeys over the 6,077-yard, par 72 layout.
The Bulldogs finished third for the second straight year in this tournament, last year’s event held at The Links in Post Falls, Idaho, while Hangman Valley was undergoing renovations.
The Bulldogs will play in the Inland Northwest Dodge Dealers Cup at Palouse Ridge Golf Course hosted by WSU next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The tournament format will be 18 holes each day.

Industry Hills Golf Club is a tournament venue unlike any other in Southern California. With over 210 golfers entered, Gregg Banks II was able to bring home the big trophy awarded to the top player. Banks shot a 73-68-73 for a total of 214 in the three day event on August 1-3. This lead to an impressive three shot victory over runner up Andrew Ok.

Banks got off to a slow start by tripling the opening hole of the tournament on the long and challenging Eisenhower course. He was able to turn things around with an eagle on the 5th hole. “The eagle helped calm down my nerves and from there on I was able to string together some pretty good golf.” Banks stated.

Banks was able to build a one stroke lead going into the final round after posting a 3 under 68 in round 2 on the Babe Didrikson Zaharias course. Heat was a big factor as temperatures reach the upper 90s while the humidity was nothing short of relentless. “The heat was pretty tough to deal with… you just had to be mentally tough out there and not let it get to you.”

The final round had many obstacles and challenges for Banks to overcome. Not only dealing with the heat and humidity, but he also had the stress of competing in a final round to tend to. “It was stressful going down the stretch… I wasn’t sure where I was score wise and felt my swing falling apart from the pressure. The experience I had a couple of weeks earlier in the Long Beach City tournament really helped me hold things together and handle the pressures of this tournament. In Long Beach I got tentative in the final round and knew I needed to stay aggressive throughout the day to have a chance.” This aggressive mentality really paid off for Banks as he pared holes 16 and 17 and closed out with a birdie on 18, a 620 yard par 5 hole, in route to his victory.

With his 3rd place finish in the Long Beach City and first place finish at Industry Hills, this rounds off an impressive summer for Gregg after sitting out of competition for over a year. Banks plans on playing in upcoming Golden State events as well as in some Pepsi Tour events as an amature. Be on the look out for this up-and-coming star!