North Texas Daily

Austin Jackson | Staff Writer

@a_jack17

North Texas men’s golf rediscovered its clutch gene today, climbing up the leaderboard late to reclaim a spot on the podium at the Lone Star Invitational.

The Mean Green flipped the script from its struggles two weeks ago, surging past tournament host University of Texas at San Antonio down the final stretch to finish in third place.

In their last tournament two weeks ago at the Colleton River Collegiate in South Carolina, North Texas eyed its first win of the spring but fizzled late, going 7-over in their final two holes to drop to fourth place.

History appeared to be repeating itself as the Mean Green dropped from second place to fourth place in its final round. North Texas started slow and was blindsided by Rice University and UTSA, as they blitzed to 9-under and 7-under starts, respectively.

But instead of a final round implosion, the Mean Green outclassed UTSA by 16 strokes to close out the tournament, sealing the team’s best finish of the spring season. The strong finish was due in large part to the clutch play of freshman Thomas Rosenmueller, who posted a final round 72 to finish tied for 16th place.

The 19-year-old German’s strong play was massively important for North Texas, as he nullified three early bogeys with a three-under finish.

“I just couldn’t score on the first 7 to 8 holes,” Rosenmueller said. “My putts were all very close to go in, but most hit the edge or just rolled over.”

But after knocking his approach close on the 10th and draining his birdie putt, he said he felt a bounce back was coming.

He followed up his birdie with consecutive pars. Then, he nearly reached the 600 yard par five in two, but his ball landed in the 13th hole’s green side bunker. Rosenmueller then hit a clutch sand shot and tapped in his putt.

With momentum and the wind at his back, Rosenmueller then bombed his 3-wood 314 yards, landing his ball pin-high alongside the 14th green.

“It was downwind today, and 14 is a reachable par 4,” Rosenmueller said. “I hit my 3-wood just right of the green and dropped the chip.”

Rosenmueller’s eagle on the par four capped off a four-under flurry over five holes. He said when he sank the the chip shot, he was too focused to really understand the importance of the shot.

“It felt good, but I see every shot on it’s own during the round,” he said. “In the end, it turned out to be very important for the team.”

Rosenmueller’s finish was only outperformed by junior team captain Cory Churchman, who finished tied for 4th.

Churchman started and finished the Lone Star Invitational near the top of the leaderboard. After two eagles and three birdies, Churchman closed out his first round in second place after a two-under 70. He later fell back in his next 27 holes, but bounced back after three birdies in nine holes to vault back and earn his third top-10 finish of the year.

The Mean Green collectively played well. In addition to a 22nd place finish by sophomore Michael Cotton, freshman Ian Snyman and junior Alejandro Villasana both finished tied for 34th.

The Aggie Invitational is next tournament for North Texas. It will take place April 2-3 in College Station.

Featured Image: Courtesy Rick Yeatts | North Texas Athletics