EATONTON, Ga. – Tyler Klava tied a career low with a 5-under-par 67 in the final round of the Linger Longer Invitational to lead the University of South Alabama men’s golf team on Sunday.

Klava’s round, which included seven birdies, gave him a 54-hole 2-under-par 214 total, as he tied for 10th place among the 72 individuals competing in the tournament.  It was his second top-10 finish — and fifth top-20 performance — of 2011-12, while it marked the ninth time this season that he has carded a 18-hole score of par or better.

After opening the final day of the event at the par-72, 7,073-yard Great Waters Course at Reynolds Plantation with a par at the 10th, the redshirt freshman moved to 1-under par with a three on the next hole, which was playing at 349 yards.  He tacked on another birdie at the par-five 18th to card a 2-under-par 34 on the back side of the course.

Klava responded to a bogey at No. 1 with birdies on each of the next two holes, while he moved to 4 under after a four at the 522-yard sixth.  After another bogey at the seventh hole, he closed out the round with birdies on Nos. 8 and 9.

It’s the second event in a row that Klava — who tied for third in the field with 14 birdies on the weekend — has finished below par, and the third occasion this year that he has accomplished the feat.

“It was the hardest day we had here — the wind was up from the start, it was cold in the morning, and the pin placements were extremely difficult,” Jaguar head coach Ben Hannan observed.  “To shoot a 67 today was a great round of golf, one of the low rounds of the day.  To shoot under par, typically you have to putt very well; Tyler missed a four-footer for birdie on his third hole and a five-footer for par on No. 1, otherwise he was able to make a lot of putts and capitalize many of the excellent shots he hit today.”

The Jags will return to the course on Monday, April 2, when play begins at the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate hosted by Mississippi.

McLain Leberte and Parker Jones tied for 43rd place with a 227 three-round score, with the former posting a 76 on the last day of the tournament and the latter an 80.  Leberte had his only birdie of the day on No. 9, as he shot a 1-over-par 37 on his back nine; it was the second straight round that he ended by birdying the last hole of the front side of the course.  Jones also had one birdie in the final round, at the 507-yard par-five second hole.

Lane Hulse shot a 79 over the last 18 holes and tied for 51st place two strokes behind Leberte and Jones, while Michael Garretson ended the event with a 234 total after a final-round 81.  Hulse  played his front nine at 1 over par, with a birdie on the 15th — which played at 416 yards in the event — and his final birdie of the weekend coming at No. 2.  Garretson birdied the 432-yard par-four third, posting an even-par 36 over his final nine holes.

“With the conditions the way they were, to have a 67 gave us an opportunity to move up the board,” explained Hannan.  “It’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to capitalize as a team.”

No. 2 Alabama won the team title with a 26-under-par 838 54-hole total after posting a 14-under-par 274 in the last round, while the Crimson Tide’s Cory Whitsett and Nick Reach of Georgia shared medalist honors with an 8-under-par 208 score; Whitsett fired an 8-under-par 64 over the final 18 holes, while Reach recorded a 68.

Georgia was the only other school among the 12 competing to finish below par, ending up 14 shots out of first place, while the Jags tied for ninth place with an 896 team score after a final-round 302.

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—

Linger Longer Invitational
The Great Waters Course at Reynolds Plantation, Eatonton, Ga.
Par 72, 7,073 yards
Team Scores: 1) Alabama 278-286-274—838 (-26); 2) Georgia 290-279-283—852; 3) Chattanooga 289-288-293—870; 4) Kennesaw State 286-292-295—873; 5) Oklahoma 292-292-295—879; 6) Notre Dame 291-291-300—882; 7) Liberty 292-306-291—889; 8) Charlotte 297-295-302—894; T9) South Alabama 298-296-302—896; T9) Charleston Southern 297-301-298—896; 11) Mercer 300-299-299—898; 12) Jacksonville 294-307-300—901.

Individual Leaders: T1) Cory Whitsett, UA 73-71-64—208 (-8); T1) Nick Reach, UGA 71-69-68—208; 3) Stephan Jaeger, UTC 68-74-68—210; T4) James Beale, MU 71-68-72—211; T4) Max Scodro, ND 70-69-72—211; T6) Joey Garber, UGA 72-69-71—212; T6) Justin Thomas, UA 67-75-70—212; T8) Jeff Karlsson, KSU 67-72-74—213; T8) Riley Pumphrey, OU 72-69-72—213; T10) four individuals with 214.

South Alabama Scores: T10) Tyler Klava 73-74-67—214 (-2); T43) McLain Leberte 74-77-76—227; T43) Parker Jones 76-71-80—227; T51) Lane Hulse 75-75-79—229; T60) Michael Garretson 77-76-81—234.