CORVALLIS, Ore. – Say hello to the Tarleton men's golf team. In just the Texans' second tournament in their first season in nearly 30 years, they took third as a team and placed three top-15 finishers.
 
Playing at the Oregon State Invitational in Corvallis, Oregon, on Monday-Tuesday, Tarleton finished ahead of the likes of Utah, Oregon State, Gonzaga and Boise State, plus Western Conference Athletic foes Seattle U, Sam Houston and Utah Tech. The Texans shot +13 as a team at Trysting Tree Golf Club, trailing only Kansas State (-3) and Washington State (+11).
 
Three of Tarleton's five competitors finished in the top-15, led by freshman Max Bengtsson, who placed tied-third at -2 (72-71-68), jumping ahead nine spots in the final round with his -3 performance on the Par 71, 7,384-yard course. Masen Ward was just behind him at E (72-71-70) to finish tied-sixth, and Cristobal Sepulveda also went -1 over his last two rounds to shoot +3 (75-70-71) for tied-13th.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of the guys and how they competed this week," head coach Chance Cain said. "They are a very coachable group and we were able to learn from our mistakes in our last event. We knew coming into the tournament that the course was going to play tough with the rough, and we executed the game plan of being disciplined with our course management. It's awesome to see three Texans in the top-15 of the field and we look forward to keeping this momentum going into Denver next week."
 
Bladen Samaniego made his Texan debut this week at +14 (72-76-79) to take tied-64th, and Jack Anderson shot +19 (74-80-78) to finish tied-74th.
 
Tarleton's top performer had the best round of any Texan this season with his -3 (68) in the final round, nearly putting him in the lead. Bengtsson trailed only Utah's Javier Barcos, the medalist at -4, and Oregon State's Mateo Fuenmayor at -3. Bengtsson tied at third with Kansas State's Nicklaus Mason.
 
Bengtsson, who hails from Halmstad, Sweden, enjoyed a bogey-free round on Tuesday, beginning his final 18 with a birdie, followed by 12 straight pars, and two more birdies over his last five. In fact, Bengtsson had just one bogey over his final two rounds, suffered on his second hole in Round 2, so he went 34 straight holes without a bogey or worse. On Par 5's he was exceptional, going -4 in the tournament for an average score of 4.56, the tied-second best overall score. He also had the tied-most pars in the event at 42.
 
Ward had clean rounds in the first and third, shooting 15 pars in Round 1 and 14 pars in Round 3, including an eagle on the 16th hole (Par 5, 574 yards). His second round was more of a roller coaster ride that he ended beautifully, shooting four birdies over his final six holes to finish even-par on the round.
 
Like Ward, Sepulveda also made an eagle, his coming on a Par 4, Hole 3, in his second round. On Tuesday, he was -3 through his first seven holes to climb into the top-10, and finished 13 spots higher than when he started Round 3 with his even-par round. His second round was his best of the season, however, a -1 (70) performance.
 
Overall as a team, Tarleton had the most pars in the tournament with 188, the next closest being California State-Fullerton at 178. Tarleton had the tied-most eagles (two) and had the third best score on Par 5's (-11).
 
It's a quick turnaround for the Texans, who take this momentum to Colorado for the TPC Colorado Collegiate, hosted by Denver, next week. They'll play three straight days starting Monday, Oct. 17, at TPC Colorado.