Pretty amazing weekend in college sports, and I'm not even talking about March Madness. The college golf scene witnessed some impressive performances as well the past few days. To wit:
Alabama men shot a 47-under 817 total to win the Schenkel Invitational by 22 strokes. It was a school best in terms of score in relation to par (five strokes better than the previous mark set in 2007). It also broke the tournament 54-hole scoring record by eight strokes.
Two All-Americans became their respective school's career win leaders—Washington's Chris Williams taking his fifth title with a victory at the Bandon Dunes Collegiate and Virginia's Ben Kohles claiming medalist honors for a seventh time with a three-shot triumph at the Schenkel Invitational. Kohles shot a 18-under 198, breaking his career best 54-hole total by eight strokes and setting the school and tournament scoring marks.
The Clemson men claimed the Furman Invitational title for a third straight year, shooting a 26-under 838 to win by 15 strokes. Three players finished in the top four individually (Corbin Mills,Crawford Reeves and Thomas Bradshaw). It was also the first time in eight years that the Tigers have won consecutive events, after Clemson took the title at the USC-Aiken Cleveland Classic last month. Mills shot a final round 65, tying his best score at Clemson, in his final college round before playing in the Georgia Cup and the Masters in the next few weeks.
It wasn't just the men's teams setting scoring marks. Purdue's Paula Reto broke a school record with a eight-under 64 in the final round of the Insperity Lady Jaguar Intercollegiate to claim a 10-shot win. She had shot a season-low 68 in the second round. Her nine-under 207 also set the Purdue 54-hole record.
The Florida women repeated as champions at the SunTrust Gator Women's Invitational by carding the second-lowest team total in tournament history with a 24-over 864, beating last year's score by one stroke. The Gators defeated runner-up Alabama by one stroke when freshman Camilla Hedberg made a par-save on the 18th hole to close out the tournament.
San Diego State senior J.J. Spaun shot a 15-under 201 at Omni Tucson National resort to take the individual title at the National Invitational Tournament. The win came just five days after Spaun finished first at The Farms Invitational with a four-under 212 performance. Spaun's efforts helped the Aztecs claim the team title in each event.
Playing their home course, the University of Texas GC, Longhorns Jordan Spieth, Dylan Frittelli and__Julio Vegas all shared medalist honors__ with five-under 208s at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate. They powered the top-ranked team in the most recent Golf World/Nike Golf coaches' poll to the team title, the Longhorns' fifth victory of the 2011-12 season.
