British Columbia's Conner Kozak was the only player in the 55-person field to shoot under par with a 3-under 141 en route to taking home medalist honors at this year's NAIA Fall Preview at Creekside Golf Club in Salem.
Texas Wesleyan Repeats as Champion, UBC's Conner Kozak Earns Medalist Honor
FINAL RESULTS
SALEM, Ore. – Defending champion Texas Wesleyan carded a second round team score of even-par 288 to repeat as champion by 19 strokes over British Columbia at the 2012 NAIA Fall Preview co-hosted by the Cascade Collegiate Conference and Corban University.
The Rams, who shot 3-over 579 (291-288) for the tournament that was played at Creekside Golf Club, were the only team that shot sub-300 in the both rounds finishing 19 strokes ahead of British Columbia at 22-over 598 (292-306). The Top 5 teams were Cascade Collegiate Conference member Concordia (295-311=606), Victoria (308-315=623), and William Jessup (308-325=633). Tournament co-host and CCC member Corban (326-321=647) tied for sixth along with Simpson (317-330=647) and Warner Pacific (321-335=647), while Northwest Christian (321-333=654) and The College of Idaho (325-332=657) rounded out the participants.
Individually, British Columbia's Conner Kozak made up a one-stroke deficit over the final 18 holes to take home medalist honors with a 36-hole score of 3-under 141 (70-71) beating out defending medalist Blake Vinson (71-73=144) of Texas Wesleyan by three strokes. TWU's Nathan Anderson (76-69=145) posted the low score on Tuesday with a 3-under 69 to finish tied for third along Concordia's Jed Dalton (70-75=145), while Texas Wesleyan's Dylan Anthony (74-72=146) rounded out the Top 5 individuals.
Warner Pacific was led by Andrew Johnson (70-81=151), who finished in a two-way tie for 12th place after sitting a mere one stroke off the lead after Day #1. The College of Idaho was led by Kyle DeLorey (73-79=152) with a 14th place finish, while Northwest Christian's Tyler Falk (77-76=153) closed out the preview event in a two-way tie for 15th place to lead the Beacons. Tournament co-host Corban was led by a pair of players – Jared Lambert (80-76=156) and Joey Ziogas (79-77=156) – that finished in a tie for 22nd overall.
This year's tournament allowed teams a chance to "preview" the host course for the 2013 NAIA Men's Golf National Championships that will be played May 14-17 in South Salem.