UCCS take ninth at SoCal Invitational

Chase Wortmann shot a three-round score of 221 to tie for ninth individually and lead the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Mountain Lions to a ninth-place team finish at the 56th SoCal Intercollegiate Golf Championship.

The first two rounds were played on Monday. The third round was played on Tuesday.

Wortmannâ€^TMs score of 11-over par was 11 strokes behind the individual winner, Sonoma Stateâ€^TMs Kyle Hopkins.

"Once again, we received consistent play from our senior, Chase Wortmann," said UCCS coach Phil Trujillo.

The Mountain Lions shot a team score of 912, which was just three strokes behind eighth-place Cal State-Chico and five strokes behind seventh-place Valdosta State.

The Tournament featured three teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. No. 8-ranked Sonoma State won the tournament, while No. 1 Cal State-Bakersfield took second and No. 16 Cameron finished sixth.

Neil Huffaker shot a 228 for UCCS, which is ranked 40th nationally by Golfstat. Huffakerâ€^TMs score tied him for 28th individually. David Hoffman was next among Mountain Lion golfers, five strokes behind Hoffman, while Chris Smith contributed a 225. John Scott rounded out the team with a 241.

"I was impressed with the steady play from freshman David Hoffman," said Trujillo. "It's impressive for him to go0 into a pressure-packed tournament like this and perform at such a high level."

The Mountain Lions now have three freshmen, Hoffman, Alex Kephart and Kyle Logan, with tournament experience.

"It makes our team extremely competitive with three freshmen vying for spots in the travelling team," said Trujillo. "It makes us very deep."