Oct. 25, 2009

Saving its best performance for last, the Florida Atlantic University men's golf team posted five of the top eight individual finishes over Sunday's final 18 holes to pull away with the team championship in the Bethune-Cookman Tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The Owls shot a seven-under-par 281 team score to win the event by an impressive 16 strokes over second-place Florida Gulf Coast University. The two schools entered the final round tied for first. Stetson University finished in third place after carding a 879 core.

The tournament title is the first for the Owls since claiming the Treasure Coast Classic last season in Fort Pierce, Fla.

The final scores of FAU's five golfers were separated by six strokes.

Junior Kelly McHugh paced Sunday's performances with a four-under-par 68 on the 6,984-yard, par 72 LPGA Legends golf course. He finished in a tie for sixth place with teammate Carl McCauley, who also carded a sub-par round on Sunday with a 69. Both of the Owls' golfers finished with 218 overall scores.

Senior Ben Silverman tied for second place in the individual competition with a 214 after posting the lowest round of the tournament with a seven-under-par 65 on Saturday.

Sophomore Michael Baskovich shot three rounds of even-par 72 to finish in a tie for fourth place with a 216 score. Sophomore Justin Thompson rounded out the team score with an eighth place finish (219) and shooting an even-par 72 in the final round.

McHugh felt confident with his play throughout the afternoon and enjoyed being paired up with competitors from the other top tournament contenders, Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson, during the final round.

"It was similar to match play today," said McHugh. "I wanted to hit a lot of fairways and greens, and put pressure on the opposition. There were a few times that I noticed my playing competitors were in trouble. Those were occasions when I took it cautiously to not give any strokes back."

"You have to play the golf course as well as your competitors," said Sands. "After the first six holes, the players felt as if they were winning four of the five pairings with Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson by a couple of strokes. It didn't matter what we shot as long as we beat those two (top contending) teams."

McHugh shot a three-under-par 33 over his last nine holes to shoot his lowest round of the season. Meanwhile, McCauley shot a 33 during the front nine of his round and he liked the way the course was set up.

"All week, the course looked like there were some low scores out there to be shot," said McCauley. "I got a couple of putts to fall early and that gave the rest of my game some confidence."

David Ziglar is competing as an individual and posted a 75 in Friday's first round. "The guys played great today and have put a lot of work to get to this point," said Sands. "We will look to close out a successful fall season next week."

The Owls return to the links on November 2 in the Stetson Tournament at the Victoria Hill's Country Club in Deland, Fla.

Team Scores:

1) Florida Atlantic 857 ; 2) Florida Gulf Coast 873; 3) Stetson 879; 4) Jacksonville Univ. 886; 5) Bethune-Cookman Univ. 929

Individual Scores:

T-2) Ben Silverman 214; T-4) Michael Baskovich 216; T-6) Carl McCauley and Kelly McHugh 218; 8) Justin Thompson 219; David Ziglar 241