Something about Tigers and golf …
DALLAS — It’s safe to say the name Tiger is synonymous with golf.
Eldrick Woods made sure of that.
Tiger Christensen, a junior at Arizona, is also making a name for himself in the golf world.
Christensen, from Germany, won for the third time in his college career, capturing medalist honors Tuesday at the third annual Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Trinity Forest Golf Club. He shot 8-under 64 in the final round, finishing at 19-under 197 for the tournament, giving credit to some tweaks in his driver coming into the event. He missed only two of 42 fairways in the three rounds of stroke play.
“I felt pretty confident coming into this tournament,” Christensen said. “In qualifying, I missed only like four fairways over three rounds. But to miss only two over 54 holes is pretty good.”
The 19-under mark also set a new program record for 54-hole score.
Christensen also said he was pretty comfortable on the greens all week, crediting a new drill in his warmup leading into the tournament. He didn’t have one three-putt all week, and he couldn’t remember the last time he went 54 holes without three-putting.
He won by five shots over Florida State’s Cole Anderson, who finished at 14-under 202. Arizona’s Zach Pollo and LSU’s Connor Gaunt tied for third at 13 under.
More importantly, Christensen helped guide Arizona into the match play final Wednesday, where the Wildcats will face Anderson and the Seminoles for the team title.
As far as the comparisons to Big Cat, Christensen said he’s a fan.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” he said. “And like, I don’t know, it doesn’t really affect me at all. I just think it’s cool. I’d never want to be named a different name.”
SMU and LSU will play in the third-place match Wednesday. Trinity Forest is SMU’s home course.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, a medalist has yet to be crowned.
Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek three-putted the last hole and made bogey, moving her to 11-under 205. Meanwhile, Texas’ Lauren Kim birdied her final two holes to tie Cernousek at 11 under and force a playoff for individual honors.
The duo each made par on the par-4 18th and par-4 first hole. Then on the par-3 17th, Kim hit her tee shot to about 3 feet while Cernousek had roughly 15 feet for birdie.
Cernousek’s putt slid by, leaving an opportunity for Kim to pounce, but her putt missed in the near darkness. Both players made their putts for par and will resume the playoff at 10 a.m. ET on the 13th hole.
In the team competition, Texas and Wake Forest, the defending national champions, tied at 23-under 841 after stroke play and will face off in the match play final on Wednesday afternoon.
Match play will be broadcast on Golf Channel from 4-7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
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