The USF men’s golf team collected its first win of the fall season Tuesday at the Ocean Course Invitational on Kiawah Island, S.C.
The No. 17 Bulls, according to golfstat.com, won by four strokes with total score of 871 in three rounds of play at the 14-team invitational.
The Bulls bested other ranked teams in No. 8 Georgia and No. 39 Kentuacky, and earned their second tournament win this year, after a first-place finish at the Big East Championship in April last season.
USF’s Chase Koepka is ranked No. 8 in the country by golfweek.com, but the sophomore was outshot by senior teammate Richard James.
The second-place individual finish for James tied his career-best of second place at the Cabo Intercollegiate last season.
After Sunday’s first round, the Bulls were in second place, but made a charge into first Monday and held the lead until the final ball sunk into the 18th hole Tuesday afternoon.
And with that final shot, the Bulls finished a strong fall season with a fifth-place finish, two second-place finishes and the first-place crown in South Carolina.
Before last season, it had been several years since the Bulls took first in a tournament. USF’s most recent first-place finish, before the 2012 Big East Championship, was in the 2006-07 season.
USF heads into a four-month period with no NCAA competition and a Top-25 ranking. The Bulls will hit the course again at the Bayou City Collegiate in Houston on Feb. 21.
