The Valparaiso University men’s golf team finished out the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate with its second consecutive round at under par, as the team climbed all the way to tied for sixth on the leaderboard. Senior Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) once again had the squad’s best score, solidifying a top-10 finish at the par-72, 7169-yard Hammock Creek Golf Club in Palm City, Fla.

How It Happened

• VanArragon turned in a 70 (-2) in Round 3 to finish the event with a 54-hole score of 215 (-1). He did great work over the final two rounds to dig himself out of a hole that he created by shooting six over in Round 1. The Valpo senior tied for sixth in a 119-player field after finishing Day 1 at t-56.
• The team’s second-best score on Tuesday came courtesy of Sam Booth (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel), who turned in a 71 (-1) to finish at 220 (+4) for the week. He made his way into the top 20 at t-18.
• The team’s third-best score – both for the day and for the tournament – was Yianni Kostouros (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point [Ball State]). His Round-3 score of 72 (E) helped him finish the event at 223, tied for 33^rd.
• Valpo posted a team score of 287 in Tuesday’s round. The team was in 17^th of 19 after one day of the event, but climbed all the way tied for sixth by the time Tuesday’s action wrapped up with a 54-hole score of 881.
• Drexel took the team title at 863, while UNCG’s Nick Lyerly was the individual medalist at 204.

Inside the Round

• VanArragon has now finished in the top 10 in all six tournaments this season and has nine straight top-10 finishes dating back to last season. In his career, VanArragon has now finished in the top 10 on 25 occasions.
• Valpo led the tournament field in par-5 scoring at 4.73 (-16). The team’s par-4 scoring was also solid at 4.16 (fourth), but the Beacons were second from the bottom in par-3 scoring at 3.38.
• VanArragon finished second in the field in par-5 scoring with a 4.42 average.
• Valpo ranked fifth in the field with 44 birdies, led by VanArragon with 13.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

“I’m really proud of the team, battling back from a huge deficit that we made for ourselves in the first round. It was a very disappointing first-round performance and we struggled in a variety of areas. The guys made some quality adjustments from the first round, and that paid dividends in the final two rounds. We played as well as team champion Drexel in the final two rounds and better than the rest of the field. We made up a lot of ground in two days, and that’s a huge positive that we can take from this tournament.”

 “While our team led the field in Par-5 scoring, our long iron/hybrid shots were not sharp today and we didn’t take advantage in scoring after a number of very good tee shots. We need to simply get more practice reps with those clubs. We really could have crushed the field in Par-5 scoring had our approach shots been better. Also, our Par-3 scoring was very solid in the second round and decent today, but we need to hit more Par-3 greens in regulation.”

 “The competitive rounds always show us what we need to work on in practice. We have a month before our next tournament, so we have plenty of time to focus on those areas. For the first tourney of the spring season, I watched a lot of excellent shot execution and I felt the guys made a lot of good decisions out there in managing the course. We had some quality sub-par rounds from Caleb and Sam, with solid ball-striking and both of them putting well to make some birdies. Yianni and Owen gave us some much-needed rounds at and around par. We will look forward to playing in another quality field in a few weeks.”

Up Next

Next month, Valpo will return to tournament action by making its way to Phoenix to compete in the Grand Canyon University Invitational at GCU Golf Course. The two-day event will begin on Monday, March 13. A link to live scoring will be available on ValpoAthletics.com.