Press Release
3/17/2008 - WILLAMETTE INVITATIONAL: Bruins Place 10th in 36-Hole Willamette Invitational
SALEM, Ore. - Playing 36 holes and covering some seven miles of terrain in one day, the George Fox University Bruins came in 10th out of 10 teams with a score of 364-374=738 in the Willamette University Men's Golf Invitational Monday here at the Creekside Country Club course.
Northwest Nazarene University recorded a two-round score of 631 on the par 72, 6,497 yard course to win the team title by five strokes over Central Oregon Community College, which shot 636. The next five teams were each separated by a single stroke, as Corban College finished third at 644, Northwest Christian College was fourth at 645, the University of Puget Sound took fifth at 646, Pacific Lutheran University was sixth at 647, and Willamette was seventh at 648. Eighth place went to Linfield College at 676, while Lewis & Clark took ninth at 732, and then came George Fox University at 738.
The top score for the Bruins was posted by David Burkhart with an 86-88=174, which tied him for 39th in the 58-player field. Other Bruin scores included an 88-96=184 by Kelton Johnson, a 90-95=185 by Matt Simpson, a 104-95=199 by Daniel Grierson, and a 100-99=199 by Ben Ulrich. Brett Tharp shot a 100 in the first round but did not compete in the second round.
Justin Ahrens of Northwest Christian earned the individual championship with a 2-over-par 72-74=146. His 72 was the low round of the event. Chris Packard of Pacific Lutheran was second with a score of 74-76=150, and Ben Sisler of Corban was third at 79-75=154.
The next event for the Bruins is the Northwest Conference Spring Classic at the Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks, Ore., Friday-Saturday, Mar. 29-30. The NWC Spring Classic results will count one-quarter toward the final point total for standings in the conference.