Golf: Garon and Cajuns Finish in Third at SBC Golf Championship

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – Junior Brandt Garon made a final round surge to finish in third and earn all-conference honors at the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Golf Championship on Wednesday afternoon at The Shoals Golf Course. The Ragin’ Cajuns golf team also finished in third for the championship.

Garon started the day in a tie for 16^th overall and jumped 13 spots after posting the lowest score of the day at three-under par (69). The junior tied his career high with the 69 to finish the week at two-over par (218).

“I am just really proud of the team,” head coach Theo Sliman said. “They showed a lot of toughness to bounce back from a bad first round to have two solid rounds and finish in third. If you take away our first round, we competed on par with North Texas who is ranked 27^th in the country. We have seen a lot of ranked teams this year and I feel like we are as good as most of them. Hopefully this kind of postseason atmosphere will help to prepare us for the regionals, and to be one of the 30 teams that will make it to the NCAA finals.”

The Cajuns held their position in the third round carding the best score of the day at 293 (�5) to finish six strokes ahead of UALR at 28-over par (892). No.27 North Texas won the team championship also posting a score of 293 to finish the event at nine-over par (873).

“Brandt did one heck of a job to play his way into the all-conference team, and I think he is more than deserving of the honor,” Sliman added. “Like the team, he was able to overcome a high first round performance and bounce back to have two rounds under par. What is even more impressive is that he was one of only three players in the field to post two rounds under par for the entire week. I think this will give him a lot of momentum headed into the NCAA tournament and his senior year.”

Joining Garon on the SBC All-Conference list were seniors Philipp Fendt and Andre Noto. Fendt placed in a tie for 16^th with an overall score of nine-over par (225), while Noto finished inside the top 25 in a tie for 24^th 13-over par (229).

“I know both Philipp and Andrew are probably a little disappointed in their performance this week, but they have had tremendous careers here at UL,” Sliman said. “I am very proud of the way they have played this year and they are both very deserving of all-conference honors.”

Sophomore Chris Weninger capped the scoring for Louisiana in 28^th place after carding his best round of the championship (74) to finish the week at 14-over par (230). Yohann Vora posted his second straight quality round of the tournament in the third round to finish tied for 31^st at 16-over par (232).

No.27 North Texas (873), No.47 Middle Tennessee (881), Louisiana (892), UALR (898) and South Alabama (901) complete the top 5 finishers at the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Golf Championship. Ty Spinella was the wire-to-wire individual medalist finishing the event at two-under par (214).

The Cajuns will find out if they are one of the 81 teams that will be selected for the 2012 NCAA Tournament on Monday, May 7 at 8 p.m.

2012 SBC All-Conference Team

Alfred Kerstis, UALR

Chun-Ji Kim, Denver

Phillip Fendt, Louisiana

Brandt Garon, Louisiana

Andrew Noto, Louisiana

Hunter Green, Middle Tennessee

Brett Patterson, Middle Tennessee

Rodolfo Cauzabon, North Texas

Carlos Ortiz, North Texas

Ty Spinella, North Texas

Tyler Klava, South Alabama

Ricky Casko, Troy

— Ragin’ Cajuns —

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