Husky Redemption: UW Ends Up Third At Bandon Dunes

Sunday, March 10

Bandon, OR

12:00 AM

University of Washington

Bandon Dunes Championship

Photo by: Washington Athletics

March 10, 2013 | Men's Golf

By: Washington Athletics

March 10, 2013

• Golfstat.com Live Scoring

BANDON, Ore. -- Ultimately the Husky men's golf team could not dig themselves completely out of a hole that saw them 17th out of 18 teams after the first round of the Bandon Dunes Championship. But given their start, Coach Matt Thurmond and the Huskies will take their third-place finish in the tournament on the Old Macdonald Course.

"We weren't coming down here to finish third," said Thurmond after his team shot 9-under 279 on Sunday, "but under the circumstances it was a great comeback for us."

Washington, rated No. 3 by Golfstat.com, opened with a 22-over par 310 on Friday. They began their rally on Saturday with a 4-under 284 that moved them to 8th on the leaderboard before capping the tournament with a 279.

The Huskies finished with a score of 873 (+9).

"Every team, every year has a variety of tests that they have to come back from. We were in 17th place and we did a great job of battling back," said Thurmond.

3	Washington	310	284	279	873
T3	Chris Williams (1)	76	70	68	214
T9	Jonathan Sanders (5)	75	71	70	216
T39	Cheng-Tsung Pan (2)	79	72	73	224
T47	Trevor Simsby (3)	80	77	68	225
T54	Charlie Hughes (4)	81	71	74	226

Colorado earned the team victory by finishing 2-under for the 54-hole tournament. Fresno State shot the low round of the day with a 10-under 278 and ended up second at +3 overall.

The Huskies' comeback was led by senior Chris Williams. The All-American and world's No. 1 ranked player shot a final round 68 that featured five birdies over the final 11 holes. He nearly rallied to defend his 2012 tournament title but ultimately had to settle for a third-place tie with a score of 214 (-2).

"The guy has a lot of guts and is a great player and he is always going to come back strong like he did," Thurmond said of Williams, who tied Nick Taylor for second all-time in UW history with his 24th top-10 finish.

"I'm a little more surprised that he didn't win the thing."

That honor went to Fresno State's Troix Tonkham, who ended up at 6-under 210. His teammate Rufie Fessler was second, three shots back.

Tyler Salsbury finished second among eight Huskies competing this weekend, but his score did not count towards the team total. The freshman from Enumclaw shot a 68 in the final round and ended up tied for sixth with a score of 215 (-1).

Freshman Jonathan Sanders finished even-par to end up tied for ninth. Sanders finished with a 2-under 70 on Sunday.

Cheng-Tsung Pan and Larry Iverson tied for 39th at 8-over 224. Pan shot a 1-over 73 in the final round while Iverson - competing as an individual - shot 2-over 74.

The most improved round of the tournament came from Trevor Simsby. After shooting 80 and 78, Simsby shook off the rust and fired a final round 68. The Ben Hogan watch list member tied for 47th at +9 (225).

Charlie Hughes shot a non-counting 74 on Sunday and ended up tied for 54th at 10-over 226.

Chris Babcock was competing as an individual and ended up tied for 71st.

The Huskies return to action on March 25 at the Duck Invitational.

Team Leader Board

Course:Bandon Dunes - Old Macdonald Course: Black (modified) Par 72 - 6859 Yards

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