WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's golf team concluded action at its home event, the Zach Johnson Invitational, on Tuesday from Glen Oaks Country Club and ended in sixth place among the 13-team field.
The Bulldogs tallied a team score of 863 over the two days of play and shot rounds of 296-277-290. Drake's second round score of 277 marked the lowest team score in a round this season. Lindenwood and South Dakota State shared the team title at 840. Lindenwood recorded rounds of 280-276-284, while SDSU posted rounds of 285-282-273.
"It was great to host a strong and competitive field on a championship course," Drake head coach
Matt Lewis said. "We couldn't have asked for a better three days weather wise. The course was in beautiful shape. We got off to a slow start in round one. This has been a trend for us this fall. Other than last week, our first round has been our highest score. We dug too deep of a hole but I was proud of how the guys bounced back with a great round two."
Among the Drake lineup, the Bulldogs had three players finish inside the top-25.
Sam Johnson was the leader of the group and tied for 10th at 1-under, 212 which is his best 54-hole total of the fall. Johnson began his tournament with a 4-over, 75 but recovered nicely and was under par in both rounds two and three firing a 4-under, 67 and a 1-under, 70.
Sammy Bonaobra and
Dylan Drogemuller were the other two Bulldogs in the main lineup that earned top-25 results. Bonaobra tied for 22nd at 216 and Drogemuller finished one shot behind at 217 for a T25 finish. Bonaobra's tournament was highlighted by a career-low 66 in the second round, which was the low round of the tournament for Drake. Drogemuller, meanwhile, improved each round posting scores of 74-72-71.
Jake Weissenburger and
Luke Bohmer rounded out the main Bulldog lineup and tied for 42nd and 54th, respectively. Weissenburger opened with an even par, 71 and followed with rounds of 73 and 77. Bohmer battled past a first round 77 and came back with a 72 and 75 in his final two rounds.
"We knew it would be a long shot, but we thought if we got off to a hot start this morning and a couple of the teams fell back, we could have a chance," Lewis said. "Unfortunately, we lost momentum during the middle of the round. The guys battled all day, but we just didn't score the way we wanted to. Sam had a solid tournament by playing well all three rounds. A couple guys were just off this week and that happens in golf."
Drake also had four athletes compete as individuals during the tournament in
Luke Springer,
Parker Payne,
Chase Pickering, and
Ty Neatherlin. Springer had the best finish of the individual competitors and showed consistency shooting 72-73-69 for a 214 total that was good for 18th on the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, Payne placed in 38th with a total score of 220 (76-71-73), Pickering (73-73-75=221) ended in a tie for 42nd with Weissenburger, and Neatherlin carded a finishing score of 230 (75-80-75) and a 65th place finish in his first collegiate tournament.
The Bulldogs will be back in action in just a couple of days to close out their fall season at the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate. Drake hits the Outer Banks of Powells Point, North Carolina from Oct. 25-27 for the tournament.
