The Fort Lewis College men’s golf team will enter the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament as hot as it has been in a long time.
The Skyhawks posted a fifth-place finish Tuesday after three rounds of action at the Southern Colorado Masters played at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo. The result came one week after FLC tied for third at the Mustang Intercollegiate tournament at Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Ariz.
A week after Samuel Salisbury, a junior from Green Valley, Ariz., shot 1-under-par for the tournament with consistent rounds of 71, 71 and 73 at Palm Valley, he backed up his 11th-place finish with a tie for third in Pueblo. The lefty finished 2-under for the tournament after rounds of 69, 71 and 71 on the par-71 course that played 6,522 yards.
Kristoffer Max from the University of Colorado won the tournament at 7-under. His first-round 65 set the tone. CSU-Pueblo’s Andrew Ni was second at 3-under, as he shot 69 in the final round Tuesday to beat Salisbury by one shot.
Also for FLC, Darren Edwards shot 3-over for the tournament to tie for 11th, while Nicholas Krantz finished at 8-over to tie for 25th.
The Skyhawks’ team score of 19-over was one shot back of Colorado Mesa. CSU-Pueblo won on its home course at 3-under, while University of Colorado at Colorado Springs placed second at 1-over. Colorado School of Mines was third at 11-over.
After FLC’s strong showing in Arizona in a deeper field, head coach Jim Foltz praised the hard work of his players to get in position to be a contender at the RMAC tournament, which is scheduled to start April 18 at Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park, Ariz.
“The guys have worked very, very hard to get to this position,” Foltz said in a news release. “They’ve driven themselves all around New Mexico to play golf when we had snow on the ground, worked in the simulator, and they just want to be good so bad.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
