Beavs Finish 3rd, Collier 2nd At Alister MacKenzie
FAIRFAX, Calif. – With winds gusting more than 22 miles-per-hour, freshman Tyler Collier battled until the final shot to finish in second place and help the Oregon State men’s golf team wrap up its fall season with an impressive third-place showing at the 16-team Alister MacKenzie Invitational on Tuesday.
Collier had five birdies in the final round and shot an even-par 71 at the 6,734-yard Meadow Club to finish the two-day, 54-hole tournament with a 7-under 69-66-71--206 and place second in the 80-player field. Max Rottluff of Arizona State was two shots better to claim medalist honors with a 9-under 68-66-70--204.
As a team, the Beavers had their best showing of their four-tournament fall season, finishing third overall with an 8-under 274-278-292--844. Host California won the event for the sixth consecutive year with a 13-under 839 and Arizona State finished second with an 11-under 841.
| 3 | Oregon State | 274 | 278 | 292 | 844 |
| 2 | Tyler Collier (2) | 69 | 66 | 71 | 206 |
| T20 | Brian Jung (4) | 66 | 72 | 76 | 214 |
| T26 | Kevin Murphy (3) | 70 | 75 | 70 | 215 |
| T28 | Alex Franklin (1) | 69 | 72 | 75 | 216 |
| T60 | Scott Kim (5) | 78 | 68 | 77 | 223 |
“There were drastically different conditions today with the temperatures dropping 20 degrees, rain at times and wind,” Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn said. “The course played very difficult today. After the way we started, it was good to see the guys weather the conditions and know that birdie opportunities were coming on the back nine.
“As I said last night, Tyler shows up to tournaments expecting to win. Today was no different,” Reehoorn added. “Unfortunately, he had one bad shot that resulted in a big number. But knowing him, that was one hole that will serve as motivation until we head to Hawai’i in February to keep getting better. He is not happy with second place.”
In four fall tournaments, Oregon State tied for fourth at Golfweek’s Conference Challenge, finished seventh at both the Husky Invitational and Itani Quality Homes Collegiate, and concluded the 2014 campaign in third at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational.
“Overall, we played well and hopefully that gives us a bit of confidence heading into the offseason,” Reehoorn said. “But there so much room for improvement. To begin the day, we made some mistakes that you just can’t make if you expect to compete to win events, and that is where we need to be each time we compete.”
The Beavers had four golfers finish among the top 28 as junior Brian Jung tied for 20th with a 1-over 66-72-76--214, sophomore Kevin Murphy was one of only six players to shoot in red figures on Tuesday to move up into a tie for 26th with a 2-over 70-75-70--215 and senior Alex Franklin finished with a 3-over 69-72-75--216 to tie for 28th.
Collier had 14 birdies over the three rounds, to tie for the second most in the field, and had a scoring average of 3.91 on the par-4’s and 4.22 on the par-5’s, both of which were tied for the second best among the 80 golfers.
He didn’t play in the first tournament of the fall, but led the Beavers with a 10th-place showing at the Husky Invitational before finishing in a tie for 39th at the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate. Collier’s second-place finish at the Alister MacKenzie is the best by an Oregon State freshman since Jung also finished second at the Mark Simpson Invitational in the fall of 2012.
Oregon State will play seven tournaments in the spring before the Pac-12 Championship, beginning with the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawai’i the first weekend of February.
