The Golf Dawgs were in third place after the first round of the USF Invitational, but strong shooting on Monday and Tuesday allowed them to not only maintain their pace, but move to second overall at the conclusion of the event.
They were 4-under over the entire event, finishing six strokes behind eventual winner Central Florida, who was ranked No. 16 going into the event. The Dawgs were ranked 22nd. They were led by T.J. Mitchell, who finished fifth individually, but the entire team shot well on Tuesday to secure the victory. Ironically, the highest score of Tuesday was the aforementioned Mitchell, who shot a 2-over 74.
More into on the event, plus a former Bulldog sets records this past weekend, after the jump...
It's important to keep in mind how young this team is. I know I've mentioned it before, but even though it wasn't a particularly deep field, as only UCF and Georgia were ranked, it's important for the Dawgs to get battle tested before SEC play begins. They really need to face some adversity and three strong competition days will do nothing but help their composure.
The head to head competition will continue for them as they face off against Southern Cal next Monday in match play before the Furman Invitational (stroke play) March 16-18.
In other news, I wanted to do a quick shout out to Brian Harman, who set some records this past weekend at the Honda Classic. He shot a 9-under 61 on Saturday, which beat the previous record by three strokes. He finished the event on Sunday tied for 12th overall, but his accomplishment on Saturday gained him some national buzz, so let's all hope he can build on it by winning some events in the near future.