PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – The Drake men's golf team finished up its first tournament of 2026 on Tuesday afternoon at the Compadres Collegiate and finished in fourth place with a total score of 892 (307-294-291).
The Bulldogs improved each day on the leaderboard bouncing back after an opening round of 19-over with rounds of 6-over and 3-over to end in fourth place. Host institution UTRGV took home the team title with a score of 880.
"Overall, I was pleased with our teams performance," Drake head coach
Matt Lewis said. "We have many positives to build off of. Our first round hurt us, but we had three solid scores and just didn't have a great fourth score. I like that we got better each round. This is what we expect as we knock some rust off our games so early in the season. We competed with some good southern schools that are able to practice outside right now."
Sam Johnson had the best finish for Drake placing solo second in the individual medalist race. Johnson started off his tournament with a 3-over, 75 but then finished under par the next two rounds shooting 70 and 69 for his total score of 2-under, 214. Johnson carded the third-most birdies in the field with 13 and had the second-best scoring average on the par 5's at 4.58.
"Sam had an awesome week," Lewis said. "He had a decent first round, but was lights out in rounds two and three. He had a great battle for the title as he was playing with the player who ended up winning. They were tied going into the final hole and the other guy made an incredible eagle to get the win. I was very proud how Sam played and this will be a great confident boost to him."
Next on the leader board for Drake was
Jake Weissenburger, who finished inside the top-15 with a 12th place result. The junior was consistent in his first outing of the spring season with rounds of 75-73-75. He led the field with a pair of eagles and averaged a score of 2.67 on the par 3's.
Drake had a pair of golfers sneak inside the top-30 with final scores of 231 in
Dylan Drogemuller (83-73-75) and
Nate Spear (74-78-79).
Luke Bohmer, meanwhile, ended his tournament in 37th at 235 (83-80-72).
Chase Pickering, who competed as an individual, ended up in 53rd totaling a score of 245 (81-82-82). Tyler Jones from Western Carolina won individual medalist honors besting Johnson by two shots after firing a final round 6-under, 66.
The Bulldogs will be back in action for the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate Feb. 23-25 from Palm Desert, California.
