NEWTON, Kan. – The Drake men's golf team placed in fourth after three days of play at the Grier Jones Shocker Invitational with the tournament concluding on Tuesday afternoon. The Bulldogs compiled a team score of 869 (300-280-289) and recorded the lowest score among the 17-team field with their second round of 8-under, 280.
 
Kansas City and St. Thomas (MN) tied for the team trophy with the two institutions each recording a team total of 862.

"I was very proud of the guys this week," Drake head coach Matt Lewis said. "We battled a ton of challenging conditions and adversity during the tournament. The first round was extremely windy and played very tough. Luke [Bomher] was phenomenal with his score of 69. Nate [Spear] played really solid as well. Unfortunately, we only had three good rounds and had to take a high fourth score. Sammy was dealing with some back issues and I know this impacted his game.

The Bulldogs were led by senior Nate Spear who posted his best finish of the fall season and tied for fifth in the medalist race. Spear was consistent over his three rounds and fired scores of 72-68-71 for a total of 211. En route to his second round of 68, Spear tallied six birdies on the back nine to come in with a 30 over those nine holes.

"The guys came back for round two and played amazing," Lewis continued. "It took us eight hours to get 18 holes in due to two different rain delays. Nate led the way with an incredible round and a 30 on his first nine. The guys followed and all played great."
 
Next on the leaderboard for Drake was freshman Luke Bohmer. Playing in just his second collegiate tournament, the California native carded a total score of 215. Bohmer was in contention to finish high in the medalist race posting rounds of 3-under, 72, and 1-under, 71, to begin his tournament before a final round of 3-over, 75 dropped him to a solo 13th place individual finish.
 
Placing inside the top-35 was Jake Weissenburger. The junior ended his tournament tied for 33rd at 220 with scores of 76-71-73. Dylan Drogemuller (86-70-71=227) and Sammy Bonaobra (83-74-74=231) rounded out the Drake lineup tying for 67th and 87^th.

"The final round began with a delay and we started in windy and rainy conditions," Lewis added. "We got off to a slow start but the guys responded and finished strong. I was really impressed with Luke this week and Nate continued his solid play with a top-5 finish."
 
Mason Healy from Kansas City claimed top individual honors by four shots with a total score of 203 (71-65-65).
 
Drake will take the next couple of weeks off before returning to competition in its final event of the fall at the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate from Powells Point, N.C., Oct. 26-28.