Freshmen spread their wings as men’s golf takes sixth at Maridoe Collegiate Invitational
Recap of Final Day
On Tuesday, North Texas finished the third and final day of competition at the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational, placing sixth out of 12 teams. Competing at their home course, the Mean Green matched their first-round score with a 300 in round three, leaving them at +34 for the tournament.
The tournament field consisted of eight of last season’s top-40 teams. North Texas topped three of them including Texas Tech University (No. 3), East Tennessee State University (No. 26) and the University of Kansas (No. 38).
Men’s golf head coach Brad Stracke said beating those teams and even coming close to beating other top teams will be very beneficial for their national ranking because the rankings are based on stroke differential.
“It’s good to beat those guys,” Stracke said. “It’s actually good to come close to Oklahoma [too. …] Coming that close to No. 1 Pepperdine and No. 2 Oklahoma, that really helps your ranking at the end of the year.”
Argentinian freshmen Vicente Marzilio and Diego Prone, each making their collegiate debuts, led the way for the Mean Green as the team’s two top finishers at Maridoe.
Marzilio finished at +7 overall and tied for No. 17 individually after carding a 5-over-par 77 in round three, while Prone scored a 3-over-75 to finish tied for No. 21 at +8.
Stracke said he is very happy with how the two freshmen played, especially each competing in their first collegiate tournament.
“[I’m] very happy for [Vicente] and Diego for stepping up and playing probably the toughest golf course they’ll play all year in their first college tournament,” Stracke said. “A great experience for them and a great finish.”
Finishing close behind Marzilio, junior Lenny Bergsson also carded a third round 75, finishing at +9 and tied for No. 26.
Senior Viktor Forslund scored a 9-over-81 on Day 3, his highest round of the tournament, and finished tied for No. 45 at +16.
Senior graduate transfer Sean Wilcox carded his lowest round of the tournament on Day 3, scoring a 3-over-75 to finish at +23 and tied for No. 60.
Men’s golf scores are calculated based on the team’s four best golfers each day, so Wilcox’s 75 on Tuesday was still impactful despite his low placement in the tournament overall. Stracke said the team needed a good round from Wilcox, who was dealing with a hurt wrist, to keep the team’s score low on Tuesday and stay ahead of opponents like Kansas and Texas Tech.
“Sean was struggling with his wrist,” Stracke said. “He taped it up really good today and […] kind of took one for the team and played with some pain. We’re lucky that he did, because […] if he wouldn’t have played today, we wouldn’t have beat Kansas and several teams that we needed to beat.”
Stracke said the team does not return to competition until next February, so the players will need to stay sharp over this extended break to be ready for their first tournament of the spring.
“We’re gonna have a lot of down time,” Stracke said. “We won’t have enough time from Jan. 11 until the middle of February to prepare them for that first tournament. Obviously, they’ll get better in that month’s time, but they have to come in sharp and ready to go for the spring.”
UP NEXT: North Texas will travel to Houston for the All-American Intercollegiate for a two-day tournament starting Monday, Feb. 15.
Recap of Day 2
On Monday, North Texas men’s golf fell three slots from their Day 1 standing to fifth place on Day 2 of the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational. This drop came despite the team’s second-round score of 298 which was two strokes better than their round one showing.
Freshman Vicente Marzilio continued his first-round success on Day 2, carding a 3-over-75 to finish the day tied for No. 7 individually at +2.
The next best performance for North Texas was fellow freshman Diego Prone who finished tied for No. 18 at +5 after topping his first-round 75 with a 2-over-74 in round two.
Head coach Brad Stracke said he is pleased with how the two freshmen have performed playing in their first collegiate tournaments.
“It’s great to see when you have freshmen step up right away,” Stracke said. “I’m really thrilled with how they are playing, and the rest of the team, and I look forward to going out there tomorrow and competing.”
Senior Viktor Forslund and junior Lenny Bergsson were neck and neck once again on Day 2. Forslund carded his best round of the tourney with a 2-over-74 in round two, moving up to a tie for No. 25 at +7, while Bergsson ended the day at +8 and tied for No. 28 after his 3-over-75 in round two.
Senior graduate transfer Sean Wilcox carded an 81 on the day, finishing tied for No. 66 at +20.
With six strokes separating North Texas from first-place Oklahoma State, Stracke said he feels the team positioned themselves well to compete heading into the final day.
“We’re right in there, in contention,” Stracke said. “We put up a good round tomorrow and who knows. When you’re six back of supposedly the best teams in the country, you’ve gotta feel good about it.”
UP NEXT: North Texas will play the third and final round at Maridoe starting tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for a full recap after the round concludes.
Recap of Day 1
On Sunday, North Texas men’s golf competed in the first round of the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational and finished the day in second place with a 12-over-par 300.
The tournament is North Texas’ first action since last spring when they tied for seventh at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate on Feb. 23.
Making the performance more impressive, the 12-team tournament field consisted of eight top-40 teams from last season including each of the top four in Pepperdine University (No. 1), Oklahoma University (No. 2), Texas Tech University (No. 3) and the University of Texas (No. 4). North Texas topped each of these teams in round one, finishing one stroke behind first place Baylor, last season’s No. 10 team.
Making his collegiate debut, freshman Vicente Marzilio was the top performer for North Texas after the first day of play. Marzilio carded a 1-under-par 71 in round one to finish tied for third place individually on the day. Marzilio was one of five golfers to go under par for the day.
Head coach Brad Stracke said he was impressed by Marzilio’s performance in his collegiate debut, citing his focus as a contributing factor.
“Vicente did awesome today,” Stracke said. “Mentally he was in it the whole round and didn’t let anything bother him. He just performed at a really high level. Very proud of him and excited for him as well.”
Also making his collegiate debut, freshman Diego Prone carded a 75 in round one to finish tied for No. 13 at +3.
Right behind Prone were junior Lenny Bergsson and senior Viktor Forslund. Both golfers carded 5-over-77 on the day, leaving them each tied for No. 29.
In his debut for North Texas, senior graduate transfer Sean Wilcox carded an 83 to finish at +11 and tied for No. 64 after round one.
Stracke said he was impressed with the team’s overall performance despite a difficult wind and challenging hole locations. He said the team is staying focused on the task at hand and not looking too far ahead after their Day 1 performance.
“It’s not about looking too far ahead or behind you, we’re just really into hitting the next shot as good as we can and […] see where the chips may fall at the end,” Stracke said. “Not really going too far into the future, just looking forward to the next tee shot we have tomorrow at No. 1 and just grinding it out the rest of the tournament.”
UP NEXT: North Texas will play round two at Maridoe tomorrow. Stay tuned for updates to this article after the round concludes.
Courtesy North Texas Athletics
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