MONTERREY, Mexico – The Texans turned in their best performance of their fall campaign in their final tournament, seeing individual medalist honors and finishing third as a team.
Sophomore
Max Bengtsson went -13 over the final two rounds to finish first among the 62-man field. He shot -15 overall (70-66-65) in the Monterrey International Invitational on Friday-Saturday at Club Campestre Monterrey for his first collegiate individual victory.
Carson Gallaher, who led the Texans in the each of their first three tournaments to start the year, was tied for first after the first 27 holes. He was boosted by the first albatross in the modern era of Texan Men's Golf. After the first day, he was tied for first at -8, as the event was being played with 27 holes on the first day and 27 holes on the second day. Gallaher finished tied-17th overall at -6 (69, 67, 74).
The Texans finished third as a team at-26, bettering their previous season-best score to par by 53 strokes. They were just three strokes short of the winning team, Utah State.
"It was a great week in Mexico and was an awesome experience all around," head coach Chance Cain said. "Max went on an unbelievable 27-hole run to shoot 10-under in that stretch with only three bogeys to pull off the victory by a shot. It's a great confidence boost for him and the team to cap off the fall on a high note. We were so close to pulling off our first team victory as well and just made a couple costly mistakes coming in. It's a good learning experience all-around, because when we keep putting ourselves in positions like this, we will figure out how to handle it and close it out."
Alvaro Huidobro had a strong first two rounds, finishing tied-35th overall at +2 (72, 69, 77). It was a similar event for
Bladen Samaniego, who shot +3 (73, 70, 76) for tied-39th.
Cristobal Sepulveda went -5 in the final round to salvage a tough start, going tied-46th at +6 (76, 79, 67). Finally,
Chandler Barch, who competed as an individual, took 51st at +8 (72, 76, 76).
Bengtsson won the tournament by one stroke on Saturday, besting Utah State's Julio Arronte (-14) and three others at -13. In his final round, between nine holes, Nos. 6-14, he turned in eight birdies to tie the lowest round in Texan Men's Golf history at 65 (-7). Last year,
Jack Anderson shot an opening 65 (7) en route to a second place finish in Utah.
The Texan sophomore joins Anderson as the second medalist in Tarleton's short revived history.
Bengtsson had the most birdies in the tournament with 22, three more than the next closest. He was a major reason by Tarleton also finished first in birdies in the event, five more than the next closest programs of Loyola Maryland and North Dakota State. On Par 5's, he was unstoppable, going -10 on the specific hole, a gross score average of 4.3. The Texans as a team were second in Par 5's at -31.
Gallaher had the lone albatross in the tournament with a 2 on the Par 5 13th hole. On the 570 yard hole, Gallaher bombed his drive 350 yards, then sank his second shot from 220 yards out. In the second round, he started with three straight birdies and was -6 through 10.
The Texans took third among 10 programs, competing against Utah State (-29), North Dakota State (-28), Loyola Maryland (-23), UTRGV (-23), Valparaiso (-21), Howard (-20), Idaho (-9), the host George Washington (-9) and Yale (-5).
This marked Tarleton's last tournament for nearly three months. The Texans will be back in action on Feb. 12-13 for Rice's Bentwater Intercollegiate at Bentwater Yacht and Country Club in Montgomery, Texas.
