Hamish Murray and Brodie Cunningham tied for third individually to power Nebraska to third place in a 16-team field with a season-best tournament total of 849 (-15) at the Bell Bank “Pay It Forward” Collegiate in Litchfield Park, Ariz., on Tuesday.
Murray, a senior from Sydney, Australia, scorched the 7,021-yard, par-72 Gold Course at the Wigwam Resort for a 66 (-6) in Tuesday’s final round to surge up the leader board into the top five. His final round included seven birdies, one bogey and 10 pars. Murray’s season-best tie for third matched his season best 209 tournament total, which came on a par-71 course. His final-round 66 matched his season best, after he opened with rounds of 71 and 72 on Monday.
Cunningham, a freshman from Glasgow, Scotland, matched Murray stroke for stroke in the tournament with a career-best 209 (-7) with three strong rounds including a collegiate career-best 69 (-3) on Tuesday. Cunningham’s final round included an eagle on the par-5, 535-yard 14th hole for the second consecutive round. He opened the tournament with back-to-back rounds of 70 (-2) on Monday. It was Cunningham’s first career top-10 finish.
Rudy Sautron just missed his fifth top-10 finish of the season, adding a tie for 12th at 212 (-4). The sophomore got hot in Monday’s second round with a 67 (-5) after opening with a 73. He closed with a steady round of 72 on Tuesday that included one birdie, one bogey and 16 pars for his fifth top-20 finish of the season.
Reed Malleck tied for 39th at 220 (+1), including a final-round 75, while Evan McDermott completed Nebraska’s five-player lineup in a tie for 49th at 222 (+6) in the 88-player field. McDermott matched Malleck with a final-round 75 (+3).
Quinn Yost competed as an individual outside the Husker lineup and tied for 70th after settling for a 77 (+5) in the third round. Yost opened the tournament with rounds of 80 (+8) and 71 (-1) on Monday.
As a team, Nebraska put together its best tournament of the season with a three-round total of 849 (-15), including rounds of 286 (-2), 281 (-7) and 282 (-6). The Huskers were 17 strokes better to par than their previous season-best tournament total of 866 (+2). The Big Red also totaled an 859 (+7) on a par-71 layout at Firethorn during the Git-R-Done Invitational early in the fall campaign.
Iowa State claimed the team title behind a final-round 268 (-20) to finish at 837 (-27). Marquette took second at 839 (-25).
Eastern Michigan finished a distant fourth at 864 (E), 15 strokes behind the third-place Huskers, while Denver and St. Thomas (Minn.) tied for fifth at 869 (+5).
Iowa State’s Zachary May took home medalist honors with a 54-hole score of 206 (-10), including a final-round 66 (-6). Marquette’s Max Lyons finished second at 208 (-8) just one shot in front of Murray, Cunningham and Iowa State’s Paul Beauvy in a three-way tie for third at 209 (-7).
Nebraska will enjoy a week off from competition before returning to action at the Tiger Intercollegiate in Columbia, Mo. (April 7-8).
