Men's Golf Wraps Up Fall Season With A Third-Place Tournament Performance

The Ferris State University men's golf team closed out the fall portion of its 2010-11 campaign on a productive note as the Bulldogs registered a third-place showing at the 15-team Great Lakes Regional II Tournament (Oct. 18-19) in St. Louis, Mo.

The Bulldogs ended the two-day tourney with a 597 team score to finish 29 strokes over par.  FSU carded a 305 opening-round total in Monday's (Oct. 18) action at the Glen Echo Country Club before improving its team performance by 13 strokes with a 295 score in Tuesday's (Oct. 19) final round.  Ferris State finished 11 strokes in back of host Missouri -St. Louis (586, +18) and Drury (586, +18), who tied for first-place honors.  Missouri-St. Louis would go on to win the playoff hole and take home the tournament trophy.

A pair of seniors, Joe Brown (St. Ignace/LaSalle) and Garrett Simons (Grand Ledge) lead Ferris State by turning in sixth-place tying efforts.  Brown (75-72=147, +5) and Simons (74-73=147, +5) were among four individuals to gain a share of sixth place.  The two would turn in their scorecards with five-over par scores as Drury's Shawn Vanderwal claimed medalist honors by firing an even-par 142-stroke total.

Joining Brown and Simons among the top 20 was junior Ian Straayer (Caledonia/Grandville), who chalked up a 152 score (79-73=152, +10) and tied three other players for 16th place on the final leaderboard. 

Senior Kyle Wittenbach (Lowell), the 2010 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships medalist, earned a share of 21st place by tallying a 154 score (80-74=154, +12).  Wittenbach moved up 17 spots after tying for 38th place following opening round action.

Freshman Trent Davison (Rockford) netted a 155-stroke total (77-78=155, +13) and was one of four players to tie for 26th place.

Ferris State will return to the links in the spring as the Bulldogs resume play March 28-29 at the North Alabama Invitational in Muscle Shoals, Ala.