DADE CITY - Florida Southern concluded play here Tuesday afternoon by firing a 1-under par 287 to finish the two-day, 54 hole event tied for fifth in the Saint Leo Invitational held at Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club.
The eighth-ranked Moccasins, who are ranked eighth in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division II Coaches' Poll, finished the even with an 18-under-par 846 as a team to finish tied with Florida Tech for fifth place overall. The Mocs entered Tuesday's final round sitting in sixth place after shooting a 17-under 559 in Monday's first two rounds.
FSC's score of 287 on Tuesday was the fourth lowest of the final round as only Saint Leo (-5), North Alabama (-3) and Florida Tech (-2) shot better rounds than the Mocs. In fact, after having 11 teams shoot under par on Monday's opening day of the tournament, only four teams shot under par in Tuesday's final round that was plagued throughout by intermittent rain showers.
Third-ranked Barry, who entered the final round in second place after shooting a 28-under par 548 in Monday's first day of action, fired an even-par 288 on Tuesday to take home the team title. The Buccaneers carded 28-under par 836 as team to win by three shots over 16th-ranked North Alabama, who carded a 25-under 839 and five shots over 11th-ranked Saint Leo, whose final round 283 helped the Lions to finish in third place with a 23-under par 841 for 54 holes.
This year's Saint Leo Invitational featured nine teams ranked in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division II Coaches' Poll. The other ranked teams besides FSC, Barry, Saint Leo and North Alabama, the other ranked teams playing at Lake Jovita were fourth-ranked USC Aiken, fifth-ranked Lynn, 12th-ranked Columbus State, 18th-ranked Florida Tech and 24th-ranked Limestone.
Lynn, who was the clubhouse leader after Monday's first day of action with a 31-under par score of 545, fired a 12-over 300 in Tuesday's final round to fall three spots on the leaderboard to fourth with a 19-under 845. USC Aiken, who was fourth after Monday's first day of action, shot a 4-over 292 on Tuesday to fall into a tie for seventh with Carson-Newman. Both USC Aiken and Carson-Newman fired 15-under par 849's as a team for 54 holes.
Leading the way for the Mocs was sophomore John Coultas (Valrico, Fla.) as he carded a 10-under par 206 for 54 holes to finish in fifth place overall. After shooting rounds of 72 and 65 in the first two rounds, Coultas carded a 3-under par 69 in the final round. Coultas recorded four birdies, one bogey and 13 pars on his scorecard in the final round.
For the tournament, Coultas recorded 15 birdies, five bogeys and 34 pars and was second in the tournament in par 3 scoring as he averaged 2.75 (-3) on the course's par 3 holes.
Lynn's Mateo Gomez took home the individual medalist honor after firing a 15-under par 201 for 54 holes to win by one shot over a trio of players. Gomez fired rounds of 65, 63 and 73 respectively. Barry's Mario Beltran, Carson-Newman's Andrew Hall and North Alabama's Michael Peter each shot 14-under par 202's to finish in a tie for second place. Beltran shot rounds of 66, 67, 69, while Hall fired rounds of 68, 65 and 69 and Peter carded rounds of 67, 64, 71.
While eight teams finished the tournament by shooting under par, 28 players finished the event shooting under par for 54 holes on the 7,137-yard South Course at Lake Jovita.
In addition to Coultas, sophomore Jimmy Jones (Tampa, Fla.) shot an 8-under par 208 to finish in a tie for ninth place. Jones followed up his rounds of 69 and 68 on Monday by firing a 1-under par 71 in Tuesday's final round. Jones recorded three birdies, two bogeys and 13 pars on his scorecard on Tuesday and finished the tournament with 12 birdies, an eagle and 35 pars and tied for tournament's lead in par 5 scoring with an average score of 4.25 (-9).
The third Moccasin finisher was sophomore John VanDerLaan (Southbury, Conn.) as he carded an even-par 72 in the final round to finish the event with a 3-under 213 for 54 holes to finish in a tie for 18th place. In Tuesday's final round, VanDerLaan had four birdies, four bogeys and 10 pars on his scorecard. For the tournament, he had 11 birdies, an eagle, seven bogeys and 34 pars.
FSC's final counter on Tuesday was freshman Christian Anderson (Ocala, Fla.) as he shot a 3-over 219 for 54 holes to finish in 42nd place. After shooting back-to-back rounds of 72 on Monday, Anderson recorded a 3-over 75 in the final round. He recorded two birdies, five bogeys and 12 pars on his final round scorecard. Anderson had eight birdies, 11 bogeys and 35 pars.
The Mocs final competitor at the event was sophomore Levin Hoffmann (Sarstedt, Germany) as he shot a 6-over 222 for 54 holes to finish in a tie for 51st place. After firing rounds of 74 and 73 on Monday, Hoffmann fired a 3-over par 75 in the final round. On his final round scorecard, Hoffmann had three birdies, two bogeys and 12 pars.
FSC will now take nearly two weeks off before returning to the course on Oct. 12-13 as they travel to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to compete in the Guy Harvey Invitational hosted by Nova Southeastern and held at PGA National.
