John Holton
Staff Writer
The Dons were at Stanford Golf Course this weekend for the Goodwin Invitational. Out of 26 total teams, USF ended up with a 21st place finish after a final round of 298, putting their total score at 881 for the three-day event. The Dons had three players finish in top-100 overall, sophomore Jalen Griffin, junior Kraig McLeod, and senior Sebastian Crookall-Nixon.
USF started the tournament off in the middle of the pack at 16th play after a 296 finish on the first day of play. It was Crookall-Nixon with the lowest score for a Don with 71. McLeod and Griffin were right behind him with 72 and 74 respectively. In total, they were 16 shots over par. It was UC Davis that topped the leaderboard for the first round of play shooting 277 which put them just ahead of UNLV and Stanford.
The Dons improved greatly for the second day of play shooting a 287, nine strokes less than their previous tally. It was Griffin that stole the show for the Dons in this round with a score of 70. This was enough to move up in the individual standings a whole 29 spots leaving him in 37th place. Next up was McLeod with 75 followed by Crookall-Nixon at 76. Both ended the day tied for 71st place. Once again it was UC Davis on top in the team standings shooting five shots lower than the previous day’s total at 272. Stanford broke the tie with UNLV shooting three shots fewer and cemented themselves in second place.
After a promising day two, USF struggled in the home stretch having their worst round of the tournament on the final day. A final round of 298 brought the Dons overall score for the tournament to 881, leaving them in 21st place to finish the Goodwin. Once again it was Griffin shooting best for the Dons with 73. This put him at 53 overall for individuals, the best of any Don in the tournament. McLeod’s final round of 74 placed him at 75, and Chung shot an impressive 69 to boost him to 82nd place. Crookall-Nixon and Junior Max Alcorn finished tied for 112th and 130th respectively.
Next up the Dons will travel to Wyoming for the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, which will be their final tournament before the WCC Championships.
Photo courtesy of Dons Athletics
