The men’s golf team recently played in the Territory Classic tournament in Duncan, Okla. The Wildcats had a strong showing and finished second, one stroke behind the leader.

“Overall, I thought we had a pretty good week,” junior Trey Sullivan said. “Our main goal is to win, but we weren’t far off since we only lost by one in some difficult conditions.”

The Wildcats were faced with 20 to 30 mph winds on the course during the tournament, which is not considered the most ideal golf weather by most.

“It was a very challenging golf course by itself and when you throw the wind into the mix, it just makes it even tougher,” sophomore Corbin Renner said. “We all agreed at the beginning of the week that it was going to be tough, but we just had to keep fighting.”

ACU and Incarnate Word finished Monday and tied for second after the first round at 9-over-par 297. It was the Cardinals who had the better second day, as they barely edged out the Wildcats, shooting an 18-over-par 306, beating out ACU’s 19-over-par 307 to pull out the victory by one stroke (603-604).

“I thought the team did everything in our own control to shoot what we shot,” Brenner said. “We did a lot of things well in this event, such as, everyone never gave up. Even when things were not going our way, all of us know that no matter what happens that we can always turn it around with just one hole.”

ACU had many high points over the two days. Senior Alex Carpenter and junior Trey Sullivan both shot a 6-over-par for the tournament, which tied them for the ninth spot. Sophomore Corbin Brenner and senior Morgan Johnson both shot an 8-over-par, tying them for 18th.

“I think that because the conditions were as difficult as they were we did a pretty good job of just taking what the golf course gave us and not trying to force too much, which made most of the scores relatively consistent,” said Sullivan. “I think that this tournament helped us prepare by giving us windy conditions that we will run into later in the year and most likely in a couple of weeks in Amarillo.”

The Wildcats will now begin preparing for the Ryan Palmer Foundation Invitational on Oct. 8 in Amarillo.