Oct. 5, 2004
McKINNEY, Texas - Texas-Arlington junior golfer Jeff Murray (Odessa, Texas) birdied the second playoff hole to win medalist honors and the Mavericks were the only team to shoot under par to capture the rain-shortened 2004 SMU Stonebridge Invitational here Tuesday.
UTA, ranked 32nd by golfweek.com prior to the tournament, fired a two-under-par 286 on the 7,346-yard par-72 course to win the title by four stroke over Southland Conference foe Southeastern Louisiana. NAIA member Oklahoma City and Texas-San Antonio tied for third with a 291 and McNeese State was fifth at 292.
The win was UTA's first tournament win since capturing the Beau Chene Classic on Feb. 20, 2002.
Murray became the first UTA medalist champion since Luke Main shared top honors at the Texas-San Antonio Invitational in 2001. Murray blistered the back nine with a four-under-par 32 en route to a four-under-par 68. The Odessa College standout had nine birdies for the day. He made par on the second playoff hole, the 470-yard par-4 18th hole, to beat David Callaway of McNeese State.
"I can't say enough about the way we played today," said UTA Head Golf Coach Jay Rees. "We showed composure on a tough course. I thought our success from our previous tournament helped us with the confidence that we could win (the tournament) as we came down the stretch. Our chemistry is excellent and I think we are becoming accustomed to shooting par or better and the guys are getting excited about having a little success."
UTA, who recorded back-to-back second-place finishes at the season-opening NIKE/Northwest Collegiate Classic and the Baylor Invitational to begin the fall season, led all teams with 20 birdies on the long Dye course at Stonebridgde C.C. The Mavericks were eight-under-par on four par-5 holes on the course -- the 511-yard No. 3, the 535-yard No. 7, the 539-yard No. 13 and th 613-yard 16th hole.
Junior Tyrone Mordt (Johannesburg, South Africa) had his third top 20 finish, tying for 14th with even-par 72. Jordan Krantz (Vermillion Bay, Canada) tied for 20th with teammate Marc Campbell (Southlake, Texas) with 73s. Redshirt freshman Zack Reeves (Mansfield, Texas) carded a 77.
Final results from the 2004 SMU Invitational played at the 7,346-yard par-72 Stonebridge Country Club.. Team standings -- Texas-Arlington 286, Southeastern Louisiana 290, (tie) Oklahoma City and Texas-San Antonio 291, McNeese State 292, SMU 293, Louisiana Tech 294, (tie) Lamar and Troy State 295, Ohio State 296, Louisiana-Monroe 301, Louisiana-Lafayette 302, (tie) SMU JV and St. John's 303, College of Charleston 305, Texas-Pan American 311.
Individual results -- (tie) Jeff Murray, UTA* and David Callaway, McNeese State 68, (tie) John Elizondo, UTSA, Anders Hofvander, SE Lousiana and Steven Pena, La.-Lafayette 69, (tie) Will Dodson, SMU and Brent Akins, Okla. City 70, (tie) Preston Smith, La. Tech, Derek Busby, La. Tech, Nick Olivarri, UTSA, D. McCollum, Charleston, Scott Abbott, SMU and Brent Dorner, Troy State 71. (Murray won playoff)
Other UTA results -- t14, Tyrone Mordt 36-36--72; t20 Jordan Krantz 36-37--73 and Marc Campbell 36-37--73; t49, Zack Reeves 38-39--77. Bryan Baker 38-35--73. (Baker competed as an individual)
