The Cougar golf team had to deal with the elements during the first day of the Husky Invitational at Sienna Plantation Golf Club, but the team used its downtime wisely.
A week after finishing last at the 12-team Lone Star Invitational in San Antonio the Cougars earned a first-place finish at this week’s Husky Invitational.
Monday’s action was shortened by rain, with the Cougars completing only eight holes of the first round. UH came out focused Tuesday morning and posted a 285 to take the early lead.
Head coach Jonathan Dismuke was proud of the way his team handled adversity in the final tournament of the fall season.
‘It’s always tough to play a few holes, step away for a delay and then come back,’ Dismuke said in a press release. ‘This was a much better performance than last week and just a great way to end the fall season.’
The Cougars were led by senior Jackie Lindsey, who won the first tournament of his collegiate career with a two-round score of 143 for 1-under-par. Lindsey, who set the tone with a career-best 68 in the first round, finished one stroke ahead of teammate Beau Davis.
Lindsey and Davis weren’t alone in their efforts: UH represented four of the top seven individual leaders. Junior Matt Eschenburg, who was named C-USA Golfer of the Week earlier this month, recorded a score of 145 to tie for fourth place, and junior Clark Mitzner turned in a 146 to tie for seventh place.
The Cougars finished with a 36-hole total of 578.
Dismuke was pleased with how his team remained focused on its own results.
‘We really came out well and finished out well,’ Dismuke said. ‘We did a much better job of controlling the things that we had control of.’
The Cougars will take a hiatus before hitting the links again in 2010. The team will return to action Feb. 15-16 at the Rice Intercollegiate at Westwood Country Club in Houston.
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Football getting national attention
The No. 15 Cougars continue to get national recognition with each win.
Conference USA rewarded two Cougars for standout performances in Saturday’s homecoming win over SMU.
Senior linebacker C.J. Cavness earned C-USA Defensive Player of the Week after a career day against the Mustangs. Cavness tallied a career-high of 18 tackles, recovered a pair of fumbles and forced another, defended a pass and had 1.5 sacks in the Cougars’ 38-15 victory.
Tyron Carrier was also honored by C-USA as Special Teams Player of the Week, the second of his career. Carrier totaled 159 yards on four kickoff returns, including a 92-yard return for a touchdown, the second of his career.
Cavness and Carrier weren’t alone in being honored for their work this week. Head coach Kevin Sumlin and quarterback Case Keenum both made national award lists. Sumlin was named to the Bryant College Coach of the Year Watch List, and Keenum advanced to the semifinal stages of the Davey O’Brien Award.
The Bryant College Football Coach of the Year finalists will be announced later in December and followed by an awards dinner in Houston on Jan. 14.
The 2009 O’Brien Winner will be announced live on The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show, which airs Dec. 10 on ESPN and will be honored at the 33rd Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner held at The Fort Worth Club on Feb. 15 in Fort Worth.
