PENSACOLA, Fla. – Less-than-favorable weather conditions on Tuesday hindered an otherwise stellar tournament that featured some of the best men's golf teams in all of NCAA Division II as 16 top-50 ranked teams descended upon the Pensacola Country Club for the annual Argonaut Invitational, hosted by West Florida.
FINAL RESULTS
Despite the difficult playing conditions during the final round that saw no team shoot under par, the No. 6-ranked Arkansas Tech men's golf team created enough separation between themselves and the rest of the field with their play on Monday that the Wonder Boys were able to withstand it all and secure their fifth team tournament title of the season.
Aiding in that team effort in a major way
Francois Jacobs. The junior golfer continued his strong campaign and won the individual title by two strokes as he ended up shooting 11-under (205) for the tournament.
The separation that the Wonder Boys were able to build on Monday saw them end the day at 19-under after rounds of 278 (-10) and 279 (-9). Their nearest competitor was No. 9-ranked Georgia Southwestern, who was seven strokes back of Tech at 12-under.
Leading the charge for the Wonder Boys during Monday's 36 holes were Jacobs,
Santiago De La Fuente and
Hayes Hamilton. All three were in the top-10 on the individual leaderboard with De La Fuente and Hamilton tied for 10
th and Jacobs sitting in first.
Both of Jacobs' rounds on Monday were in the red as he shot 68 (-4) and 65 (-7). De La Fuente also had two rounds under par with matching two-under 70s. Hamilton shot four-under (68) in the opening round and even-par in round two.
On Tuesday, every score in the Tech lineup went up as was the case across the tournament. Jacobs was able to shot an even-par round of 72 to hold at 11-under and stave off Clayton State's Nicolas Cabello who ended up shooting nine-under for the tournament. With the individual win, Jacobs, who ranks No. 16 individually, was able to win head-to-head points against four top-10 ranked golfers that were in the tournament.
The Wonder Boys have now concluded their regular season action and will have a quick turnaround as they prepare for the upcoming Great American Conference Tournament. This year's GAC Tournament will once again be played at the Hot Springs Country Club and will be a 54-hole event with 18 holes of golf each day for three days. The tournament is scheduled to open up with the first round of action on Sunday, April 10 and conclude with the final round on Tuesday, April 12.
