FRESNO – After ending play on Monday in sixth place, Fresno State fluctuated between fourth and seventh during the final round on Tuesday en route to a fifth place overall finish at the Nick Watney Invitational. The ‘Dogs were led by Justin Avery and Alex Lee, both of whom finished tied for ninth after shooting a three-day score of 218, 5-over-par.
“There was some good, there was some bad,” head coach Chad Spencer said. I don’t think our guys realized how hard this golf course (Sunnyside CC) was going to be. You play it on a day-to-day basis and you don’t get to see it in tournament condition very often, but we had some good stretches. I’m really happy for Justin and Alex, who didn’t have their A stuff this week, but were able to claim top 10 finishes.”
Justin Avery shot a 3-over-par 74 on Tuesday, thanks to a strong finish after a triple bogey on the 13th hole. The senior was able to recover and birdie two of his final five holes.
Alex Lee started off his round with a 4-over-par 39 on the front nine. Similar to Justin Avery, Lee had to play catch-up and fired a 2-under-par 34 on the back to end with a 2-over-par 73.
The best round of the day among the ‘Dogs belonged to Cody Riecks, who shot a 1-over-par 72. Riecks finished tied for 23rd overall and third among Fresno State players.
Michael Cliff rounded out the Bulldogs’ scorers with a 4-over-par 75 in the final round.
BYU went on to win the fourth annual Nick Watney Invitational, edging out second place San Francisco in an exciting finish. The Cougars have now won the Nick Watney Invitational in back-to-back years as they claimed the 2016 edition at San Joaquin Country Club. BYU leads all visitors with 14 team victories at a Fresno State hosted tournament dating back to 1964.
Fresno State will be back on the course next week as the team will travel to the Bay Area this weekend to get ready for the Alister Mackenzie Invitational, hosted by Cal. It is a two-day event, Oct. 9-10, and will be played at Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif.
Nick Watney Invitational
Dates: Oct. 2-3, 2017
Rounds 1-2 Results
Par: 71; Yardage: 6,921
Team Leaderboard
1. BYU: 283-293-289=865 (+13)
2. San Francisco: 294-284-289=867 (+15)
3. Utah: 286-290-298=874 (+22)
4. St. Mary’s (CA): 288-288-300=876 (+24)
5. Fresno State: 288-296-294=878 (+26)
6. Loyola Marymount (CA): 288-288-304=880 (+28)
7. UC Santa Barbara: 299-295-291=885 (+33)
- Sacramento State: 298-301-293=892 (+40)
- San Diego: 294-300-303=897 (+45)
T10. Pacific: 295-296-310=901 (+49)
T10. CSUN: 299-308-294=901 (+49)
- Seattle University: 297-297-308=902 (+50)
- Gonzaga: 304-296-305=905 (+53)
- UC Irvine: 304-295-307=906 (+54)
- UC Riverside: 304-306-308=918 (+66)
- Cal Poly: 301-303-315=919 (+67)
Fresno State Leaderboard
T9. Alex Lee: 71-74-73=218 (+5)
T9. Justin Avery: 70-74-74=218 (+5)
T23. Cody Riecks: 76-73-72=221 (+8)
T30. Michael Cliff: 73-75-76=223 (+10)
T76. Greg Gildea: 74-82-78=234 (+21)