KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Senior Ross Thomson and junior Jarrett Swan both shot even par to bounce the Bucs up the leaderboard and into a seventh place finish at The Invitational on Tuesday. CSU climbed four spots in the final round of the 54-hole event played at The Ocean Course, site of the 2012 PGA Championship.
CSU shot a team-297 behind solid rounds from Thomson and Swan. The Bucs (904) finished two shots ahead of Florida and three shots ahead of Rice to finish in the top half of the 14-team field that included three nationally-ranked teams.
"I'm really proud of the way our guys fought out there today," CSU head Coach Mike Wilson said Tuesday. "We had a rough day (Monday)and got off to a bad start today, but the guys didn't hang their heads and feel sorry for themselves. They finished the round strong and hopefully we can carry that over to next week."
No. 17 South Florida (+7) captured the team title by four strokes over South Alabama, while No. 39 Kentucky and No. 8 Georgia tied for third. Georgia's Joey Garber took medalist honors with a 9-under 207 to win by three strokes.
Thomson finished in a tie for 12th in the tournament, stringing together four birdies in his final five holes to make a late charge. Swan played his last eight holes at 2-under to move up to 33rd.
Senior David Denlinger shot a 78 in the final round to slip to 22nd. He was even par on his final 15 holes of the day after getting off to a slow start.
Sophomore Nico Baena fired a 74 in his final round after a rough two days to help the Bucs finish strong. He had four birdies on the day and birdied three-straight holes on his final nine to turn in his best round of the tournament.
Sophomore David Eller shot a 79 on Tuesday and also rebounded from a slow start with three birdies on his final 10 holes.
The Buccaneers return to Kiawah Island next weekend (Nov. 3-5) for the 2013 Wendy's Kiawah Classic at Turtle Point Golf Club. CSU will host the 54-hole event, which begins on Sunday.
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