North Texas Wins Title; UCI Is 4th

Scott Lieberwith of New Mexico State, unaware of the situation, stared at the four-foot par putt on the 54th and final hole of the Big West Conference men’s golf championship.

The Aggie junior calmly stepped up and stroked the right-to-left breaker into the center of the cup, giving him a one-stroke victory over teammate Jon Babich and Florian Burns of Pacific Thursday at Santa Ana Country Club.

North Texas, the tournament favorite, took the team title with rounds of 295, 302 and 299 for a total of 896. The Eagles won by five strokes over New Mexico State and nine over Boise State.

UC Irvine, in second after two rounds, struggled at the finish and fell to fourth, 12 strokes behind North Texas.

It was the first collegiate victory for Lieberwith, who led after 36 holes. He had rounds of 73, 72 and 73 for a total of 218 on the par 72 course.

“I had no idea,” Lieberwith said about needing the putt to win. “I knew it was close, but I really wasn’t worried about the individual title.”

Lieberwith struggled on the back nine, making bogeys at the 11th, 12th and 14th holes, but recovered with strong wedge play. He missed the greens on 15, 16 and 17, but chipped in for birdie on 15, and made tough up and down pars on 16 and 17.

“It was a battle just to stay alive,” he said. “My short game saved me.”

Not much could save Irvine, not on the 18th hole anyway.

Five Irvine players combined to shoot seven-over-par on the 473-yard par-5 finishing hole, none of them making so much as par.

“That hole just killed us,” Irvine Coach Paul Smolinski said. “It’s frustrating to finish like that.”

Mike Lawrence led the Anteaters, shooting a final-round 73 for a 227 total to tie for 11th. Scott Rynders, tied for sixth after two rounds, closed with a 79 and finished a stroke behind Lawrence.

The Anteaters, fighting for their first berth in the NCAA West regional, took solace in finishing ahead of Pacific, UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach.

“We did what we needed to,” Smolinski said. “It just got to the point where we had a big enough lead over them that we were trying to win this tournament.”

The Anteaters finish the regular season at the Stanford Invitational next week and need to finish ahead of Pacific, Santa Barbara and Long Beach State once again to keep their postseason hopes alive.