Pat Hicks Invitational
Price Leads Cal Poly to Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational Championship
2/12/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Led by freshman Camden Price, the Cal Poly men's golf team captured the Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational on Tuesday at the Sunbrook Golf Club.
Price, from Santa Ana, Calif., and a 2012 graduate of Mater Dei High School, outlasted two other golfers in a six-hole playoff for his first individual collegiate title.
Charleston' Zach Munroe and Utah State's Tanner Higham also competed in the playoff. All three shot par on the first three playoff holes but Higham dropped out after bogeying the par-3 eighth hole on the Woodbridge nine. Higham had remained in the hunt after holing out a 50-yard chip to make par on the par-four seventh hole.
Price (pictured at right) shot par on the sixth playoff hole while Munroe bogeyed.
"It was a crazy battle," Cal Poly head coach Scott Cartwright said of the playoff. "He had a great feeling about the course during Sunday's practice round ... mellow vibes. He made some great shots under the gun."
The tournament has had four playoffs in its nine-year history, but the first that lasted more than one hole.
Cal Poly's team victory was the 14th since the Mustangs reinstated the men's golf program 13 years ago. Price is the eighth Mustang golfer to win a tournament. Travis Bertoni won 11 tournaments while Geoff Gonzalez, the lone Mustang to qualify for an NCAA Division I National Championship, won three tournaments.
Cal Poly edged first-round leader College of Charleston by one stroke, 584-585, for the team title as the Mustangs carded a four-person 290 total Tuesday and Charleston had a 299.
"The team got off to a poor start and turned it around in the middle of the round," Cartwright added.
Best round of the day was a 280 by Dixie State for a 586 total, climbing from ninth place into third place, followed by Denver at 591 and Utah Valley at 592. There were 14 schools in the two-day, 36-hole event.
Price met or exceeded par for the sixth time in 11 rounds this season, gaining a spot in the playoff with a par 72. He shot 70 Monday, one stroke off his previous best round for the season, for a two-under-par 142 total. Munroe shot 71 Tuesday while Higham had a 72.
Price, Higham and Alex Ellis of Charleston shared the first-round lead with 70s Monday. Ellis slipped to a 74 Tuesday and finished in a tie for fourth place with Hayden Christensen of Dixie State at 144.
Justin Haley moved up three spots and finished in a tie for 12th place while Cole Nygren and Scott Patterson climbed into the top 20 as both matched par 72 on the 6,879-yard course.
Haley followed his first-round 73 with a 74 and a 147 total. Nygren, who carded a tournament-best two eagles, also finished tied for 12th place as his 75 and 72 gave him a 147 total. Patterson added his 72 to Monday's 76 for a 148 total and a tie for 17th place.
Rounding out the scoring for the Mustangs was Jordan Wright with a 76 and a 164 total for 86th place.
Price and Patterson were the top two golfers in the field with 29 and 28 pars, respectively. Price was second in par-4 scoring with a 3.90 average
Two other Mustangs competed as individuals. Johnny Castles claimed 46th place with rounds of 77 and 76 for a 153 total while Brandon Shaw added a 79 to his first-round 77 for a 156 total and 65th place.
Cal Poly returns to action Feb. 22-24 at the Wyoming Cowboy Desert Classic, to be held at The Classic Club in Palm Desert.
