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Sports

Houston wins third consecutive tournament

Cougars shoot 287 as a team, finish the Louisiana Classic 
ahead of Bears by five strokes

by JONG LEE
The Daily Cougar

The Cougars came into the last round of Tuesday's Louisiana Classic four strokes back of Baylor University. The Cougars were able to shoot a 287 to pass up Baylor by five strokes.

"We were four shots down, going to the final round," head coach Vince Jarrett said. "The guys went out (Tuesday) and played very steady. The round they shot today, 287, was probably in the best conditions we ever played down there." It was better than the 10-under round and the 7-under round because of the conditions today. We beat Baylor, who shot 4-over today, and I was just pleased on how hard the guys are playing and very excited on how this season is going."

UH finished the tournament 18-under-par 846. Baylor finished one stroke behind the Cougars, and third place University of Memphis team finished 10 strokes behind Houston. The host, Louisiana-Lafayette finished the tournament 11th with a score of 23-over-par 887.

The Cougars have won three-straight team championships to open the 2006 season. This is the first time Houston has won three tournaments to start a season since 1984-85 when the team won five ina row to start its season.

"Quite an accomplishment," Jarrett said. "I don't think Mike Stanley was out there; he played for the Cougars back on the last National Championship team. He was talking about how there wasn't a team that has won three in a row since him and Billy Ray played."

UH finished the first day of play trailing the Bears by four strokes. The Cougars did tie their season-low with a 281 in the morning season and then set a new season-low in the second round set with a 278, rounding off the first day at 559.

The Cougars, once again, posted outstanding individual numbers. Junior Ricky Romano finished the tournament in second place at 7-under-par after shooting a 73 Tuesday and ended just two strokes shy of the overall leader.

Two other Cougars finished in the top 10. Senior Kevin Newman finished with 6-under-par 210 performance, tying for third. Senior Zach Mowbray also finished in the top 10 with a tie for sixth at 3-under-par 213.

"All of them played well," Jarrett said. "It wasn't just an individual performance, everybody had to play well to win this championship. Jordan Irwin stepped up the last two days; he shot two-under (Monday) and two-under (Tuesday).

RickyRomano shot one-over (Tuesday) to finish second in the tournament. Mowbray played very steady. Newman shot one-over (Tuesday) to finish fourth (tied for third) for the tournament, so I thought it was just a overall great contribution by everyone today."

UH will next travel to Aiken, S.C., to compete at the Palmetto Intercollegiate March 13 and 14. The Cougars will look to continue their winning ways, going for their fourth tournament win in as many tries.

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