OU Places Fifth at Shoal Creek

Sept. 25, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The University of Oklahoma men's golf team finished tied for fifth at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate in Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday, after a final round 11-over-par 299. Oklahoma, who entered the final round tied for fourth -- five shots out of second -- started fast on a hot and humid final day at the 7,154-yard, par-72 Shoal Creek Country Club.

The Sooners jumped to third after playing the front nine a combined 2-over, but played the final nine at 7-over, falling back to fifth.

"I felt that at times this week we played some very solid golf," said head coach Jim Ragan. "We still need to see some more consistency from the guys in order to finish where we are capable of in the standings."

Senior Phillip Bryan jumped from 22nd to 13th place after a final-round 73. The Mustang, Okla., native played his final five holes at 2-under-par.

"Phil showed some senior leadership finishing the tournament in the manner that he did," added Ragan. "Without him playing as well as he did in the final few holes, we would have lost to some other teams that were very close in the standings."

Also in 13th was fellow Sooner Eric Durbin, who shot 78 after entering the final round in second. The result marked the second consecutive top-20 finish for the Houston, Texas, native. The sophomore finished second at the Scenic City Invitational on Sept. 11.

Ben Blundell finished 24th after rounds of 70, 80 and 73.

"Both Ben and Eric have put in some solid golf lately," said Ragan. "They are both really close to breaking through in the individual standings if they can clean up some crucial mistakes at inopportune times."

Rounding out the OU scoring were Tyler Rody and Ryan Sirman, who finished 39th and 49th, respectively. Rody shot 78 in the final round while Sirman improved his score on each day of his first collegiate tournament with rounds of 80, 77 and 75.

Overnight leader Texas Tech took home the team title by five strokes over tournament host UAB. The Red Raider's Will Griffin and Brad Smith of UAB shared medalist honors at -3.

OU returns to the links when it hosts the Oklahoma Intercollegiate, Oct. 14-16. The event will be held at historic Oak Tree Golf Club in Edmond, Okla., and is free to the public.

"It will certainly be nice to play at home," said Ragan. "We are looking forward to getting up to Oak Tree and putting together three solid rounds to compete for the championship."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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