Senior Bryan Hogan concludes Bulldog career in style

The men’s golf team wrapped up the Western Athletic Conference Championship with a third place finish, scoring 25-over par as a team in an up-and-down three-round Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

New Mexico State (289-295-291””875) won its fourth straight WAC Championship title. The Bulldogs shot 288-305-296””889, just one stroke behind second-place finisher San Jose State.

After being tied for 22nd place following opening-round play, junior Bhavik Patel finished the tournament in eighth, shooting 7-over 223. His eighth-place finished marked the eighth time that he finished in the top 10 this season. Patel was also named to the All-WAC first team for the second straight year. The Bakersfield product shot a 72.02 average on the year.

The tournament also marked the final time seniors Michael Gideon, Bryan Hogan and Brad Wyatt would take the tee in Bulldog red. Hogan had a career tournament shooting a team best 68-74-72””214, good enough for third place overall. The senior was in second place through the first two rounds, but slipped to third place after a strong third round from San Jose State’s Mark Hubbard, who carded a 69 and squared off with Idaho’s Damian Telle’s in a playoff.

Gideon finished tied for 26 at (75-82-74””231) while Wyatt finished 42 (84-79-80–243).

The Bulldogs were one of the only two teams to have at least three players finish in the top 10 in scoring. WAC Champion New Mexico State had four top-10 finishers. Brian Sunker rounded out the final top-10 score tying for ninth place (70-78-76–224).

San Jose State’s Hubbard took home first after winning a playoff with Telles when both players shot 212. Hubbard won on the third playoff hole when Telles missed a putt for par after both players made par on the previous two holes. Hubbard finished the three rounds shooting 71-72-69, making up four strokes in the final round on Telles who shot 66-73-73. The victory was only Hubbard’s second victory of his career. His first was the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational nearly eight months ago.

The other players garnering first team All-WAC honors were seniors Tim Madigan of New Mexico State, Scott Smith of Nevada and Hubbard. Telles was the only sophomore selected to the first team.

The second team All-WAC roster consisted of four juniors in Jay Mayers of San Jose State, Gaston De La Torre of New Mexico State, Jarred Bossio of Idaho and Kevin Lucas of Nevada. Senior Clinton Shepard of Louisiana Tech took home the remaining spot.

New Mexico State also took the Player of the Year award and Coach of the Year award to go along with their WAC Championship. Madigan won the player award while Scott Lieberwrith won the coach’s award. Louisiana Tech’s Jack Lempke was named Freshman of the Year.