No. 10 Arkansas Leads First Day at All-American Intercollegiate

Houston sophomore Curtis Reed tied for seventh at 140 to lead Cougars


HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 10, 2012) University of Houston sophomore Curtis Reed posted a second-round 69 to tie his season low and help lead the Cougars to a fifth-place team showing after the first day at The Woodlands All-American Intercollegiate.


Reed, a native of Castroville, Texas, drained at least four birdies in each round, starting the day with back-to-back birdies. Posting a 69 in the second round of last week’s Insperity Augusta State Invitational, Reed finished with a sub-par score for the third time in his last four rounds.


“Curtis got off to a great start and had a great finish to his first round,” third-year head coach Jonathan Dismuke said. “When Curtis gets comfortable, he has a lot of ability and a lot of game. I am happy to see him at the top of the leaderboard.”


Playing on the Tournament Course at The Woodlands Country Club, the Cougars overcame a slow start in the morning round to post a team score of 289. From there, the team added a 3-under-par 285 in the afternoon session to finish the first 36 holes at 574.

“We did a lot of things really well, and we were fortunate to claw back during a difficult stretch in the first round,” Dismuke said. “We will address some things and make some adjustments and hopefully put a better foot forward in the final round.”


For Dismuke, one of his program’s biggest highlights of the first day was its resiliency during the opening 18 holes. As a team, Houston endured a combined 10 bogeys on the front nine before settling down to finish only 1-over-par.


“Golf has its ups and downs. You just have to battle through those tough stretches togive yourself an opportunity to salvage a round and post a decent score,” Dismuke said. “I stress to our guys that it’s not always about what you do when you play great. There is an element of damage control when you are not playing your best.”


No. 10 Arkansas led the first day with a score of 556, four strokes ahead of No. 32 North Texas and six strokes better than No. 14 Texas A&M. SMU finished the first day in fourth at 571, while No. 19 Clemson (575), No. 27 Baylor (576), Southeastern Louisiana (576), Tulsa (579) and Louisiana-Lafayette (580) rounded out the top-10 team leaders.


Texas A&M’s Geoff Shaw stood atop the individual leaderboard at 136 after rounds of 69-67. He joined Arkansas’ Kolton Crawford (68-69-137) as the only player with consecutive rounds in the 60s.


SMU’s Marc Sambol and North Texas’ Curtis Donahoe were tied for third at 138, while Arkansas teammates Thomas Sorensen and Sebastian Cappelen were tied for fifth at 139.


Cappelen provided the low round of the day and etched his name in the All-American Intercollegiate records book with a second-round 65. He became only the seventh player in the history of the tournament with an 18-hole total that low and the first since Louisiana-Lafayette’s Mike Etherington posted that total in the first round on April 13, 1993.


Four of the five Cougars enjoyed at least one round of par of better Monday. Sophomore Jesse Droemer fired an opening round 71 and was tied for 26th at144. Junior James Ross posted an even-par 72 in the second round and was tied for 33rd at 145.


Making a return to the Cougar starting lineup, sophomore Bryn Flanagan tallied a 71 in the second round and was tied for 52nd at 148. Freshman Roman Robledo was tied for 58th at 149.


Playing as individuals, sophomore Wesley McClain fired back-to-back 72s and was tied for 26th at 144. Senior Eric Adler finished with a 72 in the second round and was tied for 39th at 146, while junior Will Dusenbury was tied for 64th at 151.


TUESDAY'S FINAL ROUND
The tournament wraps up with the final 18 holes, beginning at 8 a.m., Tuesday, on the 7,018-yard, par-72 course at The Woodlands Country Club. Admission is free, and all fans are invited to attend.


Fans can follow live scoring by visiting GolfStat.com or by clicking here.


ALL-AMERICAN INTERCOLLEGIATE HISTORY

Monday’s start marks the first time since 2009 that the Cougars have played host to The Woodlands All-American Intercollegiate. For years, this event ranked as one of the nation's premier collegiate tournaments, featuring some of the country's top student-athletes and teams.


“It’s a honor to have the quality field we have. Hosting this event at The Woodlands CC has a lot to do with the quality teams we drew. This is a great field on a great course. We were fortunate to have some great weather, and the first day was really fun.”


The tournament was played every season from 1955 to 1990. After a one-year break in 1992, the tournament picked up and was played again from 1992 to 1997. The All-American Intercollegiate resumed in 2006 and was played each season through the 2008-09 campaign


The Cougars lead the way in their tournament with 23 team titles and 20 individual championships during its history.


UP NEXT


The Woodlands All-American Intercollegiate will be the Cougars’ final regular-season tournament of the season. Following this week, the Cougars will take a break before competing at the Conference USA Championships on April 22-24 at Texarkana Country Club, in Texarkana, Ark.


The winner of the league’s annual postseason event will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals