Sept. 25, 2007
BIRMINGHAM - The Auburn men's golf team finished third in the Shoal Creek Invitational by shooting a final round of 295 for an 880 total at the par-72, 7,114 yard, Shoal Creek Country Club Tuesday to finish seven shots behind champion Texas Tech.
Senior Patton Kizzire followed his second round 68 with an even-par 72 in the final round to finish tied for fourth with a 72-215. Junior Glenn Northcutt (78-221) tied for 13th, while seniors Jay Moseley (74-224) and Gordon Strother (73-224) both tied for 27th. Senior Steven Groover (76-227) tied for 35th.
"I'm proud of the way we fought back and stayed in the hunt," said head coach Mike Griffin. "That is what you want to do. We're off to a great start. We just need to work on coming out stronger in the opening rounds. I'm proud of another great tournament by Patton. He's playing some solid golf."
Texas Tech (295-873) finished five shots ahead of tournament host UAB (295-878), followed by Auburn, Ole Miss (296-886), North Florida (296-887), Oklahoma (299-887), Central Florida (297-888), Michigan State (290-888), Georgia Southern (295-891), LSU (296-892), Nevada (298-898) and Vanderbilt (298-905).
Texas Tech's Will Griffin (70-213) and UAB's Brad Smith (69-213) tied for the individual title, one shot ahead of UAB's Zach Sucher (72-214).
The last time Auburn, which finished fourth in last week's Carpet Capital Collegiate, opened a season with two top-five finishes was in 2004-05, placing second at the Topy Cup and third at the Jerry Pate Invitational. The Tigers have only started out in such fashion twice in the last 14 seasons.
Auburn returns to action Oct. 8 in the Jerry Pate Invitational at Old Overton Golf Club in Birmingham.