By Daniel Johnson, Sports Editor
Under head coach Mike Campbell’s leadership, the ACU golf team keeps getting better.
ACU posted its best finish at the Lone Star Conference Tournament under Campbell’s direction and the best finish since 2003 after tying for second place with Northeastern State at the WinStar Golf Course in Thackerville, Okla., on Tuesday.
“One thing I told them is take it one shot at a time,” Campbell said. “Don’t think about the end, and things will work themselves out.”
With the top finish, ACU should secure a spot in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament on May 5. Rankings were not available by press time.
Cameron University easily won the tournament after shooting 9-under-par 855. Cameron broke Northeastern State’s three-year streak as conference champions, after shooting a tournament-best 283 on Tuesday. ACU and Northeastern were eight shots behind with a team score 1-under-par.
ACU jumped from fourth place to tie for second after shooting a 284 on the last day of the tournament. The Wildcats were in fourth place after shooting 288 and 291 in the first two rounds, and the push on the last day helped them tie with Northeastern.
Central Oklahoma finished fourth at 865, Midwestern State finished fifth at 870, Southwestern Oklahoma State was sixth with a score of 872, Texas A&M Commerce finished seventh at 876, Southeastern Oklahoma State finished eighth at 884, East Central finished ninth at 892 and West Texas A&M finished 10th after shooting 902.
Cyril Buoniol led ACU with a fourth-place finish individually. Buoniol shot a 5-underpar 67 on the last day of the tournament to finish 4-underpar 212.
Buoniol rallied from back-to-back bogeys at the start of the back nine on Tuesday. The bogeys dropped Buoniol to even par, until he birdied the par-5 13th, then the par-4 16th to drop back down to2-under-par and birdie on the par-5 18th.
Buoniol was only three shots behind Texas A&M-Commerce’s Pinky Hartline, who won the individual championships after shooting 7-under-par 209.
ACU’s Patrick Hanauer finished tied for 12th at evenpar 216, Curtis Harris tied for 19th after shooting 3-over-par 219, Erik Manning tied for 22nd with a 4-over-par 220 and Hilton Funk tied for 36th.
