University of Tennessee Athletics
Holmes Closes in Sixth at Western Refining College All-American
November 24, 2009 | Men's Golf
Nov. 24, 2009
Tennessee's David Holmes rallied for an even-par 71 Tuesday and finished in a tie for sixth at the Western Refining College All-American Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas.
The senior from Knoxville finished at 7-under-par 206, four shots behind co-medalists Hunter Hamrick of Alabama and Morgan Hoffman of Oklahoma State (Hamrick won the event in a one-hole playoff). First-round leader Dustin Garza of Wichita State finished third at 203, followed by Georgia's Russell Henley (204) and Washington's Nick Taylor (205).
Scoring totals were considerably higher during Tuesday's final round than in Monday's 36-hole opening session at El Paso Country Club. Holmes was one of just nine golfers -- or 28 percent of the field -- to record an even par or better round Tuesday. During Monday's opening 36 holes, 41 rounds -- or 64 percent -- were par or better.
Holmes had the worst of it over his first nine holes. He birdied Nos. 3 and 6, but bogeys at the fifth and eighth holes along with a double bogey at the par-4 seventh pushed his outward score to 38. Holmes birdied the 11th before giving it right back at No. 12, but then rallied to play 2 under par over his final six holes. He birdied the 15th and closed the tournament with a nifty birdie on 18 to match his best finish of the fall.
Holmes also placed sixth at UT's opening event, the Carpet Capital Collegiate, back in September. But this week's scorecard was his best since shooting 8 under par to tie for second at the Northeast Amateur in June.
The Western Refining Golf Classic is an elite invitational event including 32 All-America golfers from a year ago representing 27 schools, making it the largest field in the tournament's history. Last season, it ranked as the No. 1 tournament in the country for the fifth consecutive season, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
Throughout the years, many of the tournament's competitors have gone on to successful careers on the PGA Tour. Some of the past champions include Ricky Barnes (2000), Notah Begay (1994), David Duval (1991), Matt Kuchar (1999), Davis Love III (1984), Chris Nallen (2003), Jerry Pate (1974), Nicholas Thompson (2004) and Tiger Woods (1995).
Each university is awarded a $1,000 scholarship in the name of the golfer competing in the tournament.
Tennessee's next collegiate tournament is the Battle at the Beach, Feb. 14-16 in Newport Coast, Calif.
| LEADERBOARD | ||
| t-1. | Hunter Hamrick, Alabama | 66-67-69--202 (-11) |
| t-1. | Morgan Hoffman, Oklahoma State | 65-68-69--202 (-11) |
| 3. | Dustin Garza, Wichita State | 64-67-72--203 (-10) |
| 4. | Russell Henley, Georgia | 68-66-70--204 (-9) |
| 5. | Nick Taylor, Washington | 69-65-71--205 (-8) |
| t-6. | David Holmes, TENNESSEE | 68-67-71--206 (-7) |
| t-6. | Richard Lee, Washington | 65-73-68--206 (-7) |
| 8. | John Hahn, Kent State | 67-72-68--207 (-6) |
| 9. | Corey Nagy, Charlotte | 64-72-72--208 (-5) |
| 10. | Andrew Putnam, Pepperdine | 67-71-71--209 (-4) |
| 11. | Kevin Tway, Oklahoma State | 67-70-73--210 (-3) |
| 12. | Knut Borsheim, Arizona State | 69-71-72--212 (-1) |
| t-13. | Lion Kim, Michigan | 67-73-73--213 (E) |
| t-13. | David Lingmerth, Arkansas | 67-70-76--213 (E) |
| t-15. | Harris English, Georgia | 70-70-74--214 (+1) |
| t-15. | Bo Hoag, Ohio State | 69-69-76--214 (+1) |
| t-17. | Mitchell Fedorka, La Verne | 73-67-75--215 (+2) |
| t-17. | Tom Hoge, TCU | 76-64-75--215 (+2) |
| t-17. | Scott Langley, Illinois | 72-72-71--215 (+2) |
| t-20. | Kevin Foley, Penn State | 70-71-75--216 (+3) |
| t-20. | Daniel Miernicki, Oregon | 71-71-74--216 (+3) |
| 22. | Eddie Olson, UNLV | 70-72-75--217 (+4) |
| t-23. | George Bryan IV, South Carolina | 71-74-73--218 (+5) |
| t-23. | Matt Hill, North Carolina State | 72-72-74--218 (+5) |
| t-23. | Tarquin MacManus, Arizona | 67-76-75--218 (+5) |
| t-23. | John Peterson, LSU | 74-71-73--218 (+5) |
| 27. | Scott Pinckney, Arizona State | 75-70-74--219 (+6) |
| 28. | Lance Lopez, Texas | 71-77-72--220 (+7) |
| 29. | Gregor Main, UCLA | 70-74-78--222 (+9) |
| 30. | Matthew Giles, Southern Calif. | 72-73-78--223 (+10) |
| 31. | Alexander Sitompul, Michigan | 75-73-77--225 (+12) |
| 32. | Alex Ching, San Diego | 77-77-76--230 (+17) |
Players Mentioned
