One stop away from the esteemed East Lake Cup next week, the Texas men’s golf team placed fifth overall in the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational on Tuesday.
Underneath the sunny sky of Carrollton, Texas, the Longhorns competed against Pepperdine, North Texas, East Tennessee State, Coastal Carolina and all of the Big 12 schools. Junior Cole Hammer fired off the best round Sunday with a 1-under 71 finish, tying for third. Five players at Maridoe finished the day under par, Hammer being one of them.
Fellow juniors Parker and Pierceson Coody and sophomore Travis Vick followed behind Hammer and contributed to the team’s fourth-place finish in the first round. Parker finished in the top 20, ranking 12th after he shot a 3-over 75. Pierceson shot 79 strokes and Vick shot 78 strokes to finish out Round 1.
Graduate transfer Hunter Ostrom and senior Christoffer Bring also made the trip to Carrollton. Ostrom recorded 81 strokes, and Bring, who individually competed, posted a 3-over 75. Bring ranked 13th after the opening 18 holes.
Oklahoma State, Baylor and Pepperdine led the pack of schools in Round 2. Texas remained comfortable in fourth place, sitting five shots behind leader Oklahoma State. At an even-par 72, Parker produced the best round of play with two birdies and two bogeys Monday. Parker finished his second round moving up to 11th place individually, tying with Pepperdine sophomore Dylan Menante.
Hammer sat in a better place than Parker, as he was the only Longhorn within the top 10 of individual play. After reclaiming his play following a pair of double bogeys, Hammer posted a 3-over 75 to conclude his second round and tied for sixth place. Bring followed Hammer as the third Longhorn in the top 15 of individual play and shot a 1-over 73 on Monday.
In rounding out the third tournament of the fall season, the men finished the third and final round of the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational with 5-over 293 on Tuesday. Oklahoma State remained in first place, followed by Pepperdine in second, Oklahoma in third, Baylor in fourth and Texas in fifth.
Parker and Hammer were the Longhorns’ top performers of the week with top-15 finishes. Hammer tied for seventh shooting a 1-over 73 to finish 3-over in the tournament, and Parker tied for 13th with 6-over par. Collectively, Texas had its best round of play in the third round, finishing Maridoe with a combined score of 890, only 10 over that of Oklahoma State. On the individual leaderboard, Vick tied for 26th, Ostrom tied for 32nd, Pierceson tied for 45th and Bring tied for 26th competing as an individual.
The team will travel to Atlanta on Monday to compete in the final tournament of the season. The first round of the East Lake Cup kicks off Oct. 26 with appearances from Pepperdine, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
