HATTIESBURG, Miss. – For the second day in a row, University of South Alabama men’s golfer Christian Blanchet posted a career-low score at the season-opening Sam Hall Intercollegiate.
After carding a 70 in each of the first two rounds of the event hosted by Southern Mississippi, Blanchet fired a 4-under-par 67 Tuesday over the final 18 holes at the 6,850-yard, par-71 Hattiesburg Country Club. The performance left him with a 6-under-par 207 total for the tournament as he finished in fourth place.
“The difference for me this week has been what I have been working on the last two to three months, and that’s to play in the present and take one shot at a time,” Blanchet said. “It feels good to open the year this way, especially because I haven’t posted many rounds under par since I came to USA, but it’s a long year and I have to continue to improve every day.”
“This is the best tournament performance of Christian’s career thus far, I’m very happy for him,” stated Jag head coach Ben Hannan. “I watched him play the last five holes, and what I saw was that he was in complete control of his game. He looked very comfortable out there, and it resulted in some great golf this week.”
While Blanchet was playing as an individual, fellow senior Jack Hiluta carded a 73 in the final round for a 54-hole 216 total to lead the Jags after tying for 31st place.
Chris Piumelli and Blake Kelley both posted a 72 over the last 18 holes, with the former matching his low round of the event set yesterday afternoon. Piumelli tied for 40th one shot behind Hiluta, while Kelley ended up in a tie for 51st with a 220 total.
Chris Bockstael recorded a 76 and McLain Leberte had a 78 in the final round, with both ending the event with a 228 score over 54 holes.
USA had a 293 team score in the last round, three shots lower than its figure in the afternoon on opening day, to tie with Rice for 13th place with an 878 total.
Jeff Karlsson, the defending tournament medalist, had a 6-under-par 65 — the low score of the final round — to win the title for the second straight season. He finished with a tournament-record 14-under-par 199 score, edging out USM’s Derek Plucienski by two shots.
Karlsson’s effort helped Kennesaw State claim the team title with a 13-under-par 839 score, also an event record. The Owls’ 280 total in the final round matched the low team score of the day.
Fifteen teams and 86 individuals competed in the tournament.
The Jaguars are back in action on Friday, Sept. 24 when the Mason Rudolph Invitational — which will be hosted by Vanderbilt in Franklin, Tenn. — begins with the first of three rounds in three days.
“Obviously, even though this was our first tournament of the year, we are disappointed in our finish,” Hannan commented. “But, this team is about getting better. We will evaluate our performance — there are improvements that every individual can make — and start working on developing ourselves so that we can show that at Vanderbilt.”
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
—USA—
Sam Hall Intercollegiate
Hattiesburg Country Club, Hattiesburg, Miss.
Par 71, 6,850 yards
Team Scores: 1) Kennesaw State 278-281-280—839 (-13); 2) Louisiana-Lafayette 286-274-283—843; 3) Southeastern Louisiana 280-282-283—845; T4) Mississippi State 284-282-208—846; T4) Louisiana Tech 279-282-285—846; 6) Louisiana-Monroe 284-283-285—852; 7) Arkansas State 285-281-287—853; T8) Memphis 291-277-286—854; T8) Southern Mississippi 274-290-290—854; 10) Wichita State 286-284-286—856; 11) UALR 291-285-288—864; 12) Winthrop 296-289-291—876; T13) South Alabama 289-296-293—878; T13) Rice 301-291-286—878; 15) Troy 288-294-305—887.
Individual Leaders: 1) Jeff Karlsson, KSU 65-69-65—199 (-13); 2) Derek Plucienski, USM 63-73-65—201; 3) Andrew Noto, ULL 68-65-69—202; 4) Christian Blanchet*, USA 70-70-67—207; T5) Brad Mason, MSU 68-72-68—208; T5) Philipp Westerman, SLU 71-67-70—208; T5) Sam Forgan. LTU 71-67-70—208; T5) Chad Ramey, MSU 71-68-69—208; T9) Jonathan Fly, UM 69-72-69—210; T9) Chris Pledger, ASU 70-70-70—210; T9) Matt Helms, WSU 70-71-69—210.
South Alabama Scores: 4) Christian Blanchet* 70-70-67—207 (-4); T31) Jack Hiluta 72-71-73—216; T40) Chris Piumelli 73-72-72—217; T51) Blake Kelley 70-78-72—220; T76) McLain Leberte 74-76-78—228; T76) Chris Bockstael 75-77-76—228.
*denotes competing as an individual
