Saint Xavier Wins First CCAC Men's Golf Crown
OAK FOREST, Ill. --- Second-year program Saint Xavier University and first-year program Cardinal Stritch University will represent the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference at next month's NAIA National Men's Golf Championships after the two young programs finished first and second, respectively, at the CCAC Men's Golf Championships on Tuesday at the George W. Dunne National Golf Course.
Saint Xavier rallied from a two-stroke deficit on Monday to win its first-ever league crown in the sport with a 36-hole score of 618. After shooting a 310 on Monday, the Cougars registered a 308 on Tuesday. SXU was also the only team to have seven of its top eight scores below 80 for the tournament.
Leading the way for the Cougars was Kyle Bahnick, who posted rounds of 76 and 75 to finish at 151. That tied him with Holy Cross College's Matthew Code for the best tournament score. Code then defeated Bahnick in a one-hole playoff to garner tournament medalist honors.
Shooting the lowest round on Tuesday was SXU's James Karr with his 74, or five strokes better than he was the previous day. He finished with a 153 to place in a three-way tie for third.
Kirby Brown added a 157 (78-79) and Brendan Ryan a 158 (78-80) for the winners.
Cardinal Stritch, which finished seven strokes behind Saint Xavier at 625, was led by Justin Doeden and Mario Funcic, both of whom finished with scores of 153. Doeden shot 73-80 with Funcic going 78-75.
Holy Cross College placed third with a 630 followed by University of St. Francis (644) and Trinity Christian College (649).
Saint Xavier and Cardinal Stritch advance to the 63rd Annual NAIA National Championships May 13-16 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., where they will be joined by Code who receives an invitation as the tournament medalist.
The complete tournament results can be found at: CCAC Men's Golf Championships.