HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. -- The fifth-seeded Texas men's golf team was defeated in the semifinals of the Collegiate Match Play Championships by top-seed Georgia Tech, 3-0-2, on Monday, Nov. 15 at the Mission Inn Resort (El Campeon: Par 72, 6,923 yards). The loss sets up a showdown with Texas A&M on Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 8 a.m. (Central) for third place. The Longhorns, ranked 6th in the GCAA/Precept Coaches Poll, dropped their three matches to the second-ranked Yellow Jackets by a total of three strokes.
"We played really well against Georgia Tech," said Texas head coach John Fields. "Each match came down to the wire and halving two matches and losing 1 down in the other three really isn't that bad. We certainly would have liked to win, but we got better as a team for having played in this match. We are looking forward to playing the Aggies for third place tomorrow."
In the first match, senior Matthew Rosenfeld (Plano, Texas) jumped out to an early one stroke advantage over Georgia Tech's Roberto Castro, but Castro bettered Rosenfeld on holes three and four to go 1-up. Castro held the lead through most of the round and increased it to 2-up after 15 holes. Rosenfeld gained a stroke back on 17, but was unable to get any closer as Castro won the match 1-up.
In the second match, junior Jeff Bell (Plano, Texas) also took an early lead on the fourth hole against Chan Song, but Song came back to make it all square thru seven holes. The score remained the same until the 10th hole when Song went 1-up, but Bell came right back to even things up after 11. Song, again, took a one stroke advantage after the 15th hole and held on to defeat Bell 1-up.
In match number three, junior Matthew Mills (London, England) trailed for most of the match against Nicholas Thompson but made up three shots between holes nine and 13 to go 1-up after the 13th hole. Thompson bettered Mills on the next two holes to take a 1-up lead, but Mills evened the match thru 16 holes. The match remained that way over the final two holes, leaving the two all square.
Sophomore Farren Keenan (Middlesex, England) squared off against Michael Barbosa in the fourth match. Keenan went 1-up after the first hole and the score remained that way until the fifth hole. Barbosa took five and six and remained 1-up thru eight holes. The match went back-and-forth over the next nine holes and the match was all square thru 17. Barbosa made a four, while Keenan ended with a five, giving Barbosa the victory, 1-up.
In the final match of the day, senior Shaun Goodwin (Spring, Texas) faced off with Kevin Larsen. Goodwin went 1-up after the fourth hole, but found himself 2-down after the ninth hole. He battled back and twice held 1-up advantages over the final nine holes. Goodwin led entering the final hole, but Larsen managed to make a four in order to halve the match.
The loss sets up a match with 14th-seeded Texas A&M on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Play will begin at 8 a.m. (Central).
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