The Mesa State men’s golf team beat Adam State 10 ½  points to 1 ½ points in a Ryder Cup format dual Sept. 7 and 8 at the Cattalis Golf Course in Alamosa.
Senior Eric Farmer placed third overall in the tournament with scores of 73-72-70, finishing five over par. Brandon Bingaman won the individual title by recording the best match-play record and the best cumulative score from all three rounds 67-71-65-203 finished seven under par. Bingaman tallied a tournament high with 11 birdies and only one eagle. The team isn’t used to playing the Ryder cup format, but that didn’t stop them from silencing the critics who voted them eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
“This was one of my best overall tournament finishes.” Bingaman said. “I knew scores like that were out there for me so, I hope to see more top finishes for the rest of this year for myself as well as the team. I think we have a lot of talent and we’re prepared to use it.”
Farmer was also very impressed by the team’s play in the first tournament of the year.
“To me, the team exceeded my expectations for the first tournament of the year. It was really good to see our team play as well as we did. We won every match and tied three. I am happy, there is a few things I need to polish up but my overall performance was good,” Farmer said.
Freshman Jake Jacobs finished fourth in his collegiate debut with a seven over par 70-71-76. He recorded five birdies and was second overall with 37 pars. Sophomore Calan Hoppe placed fifth overall with scores of 72-74-75-221. Senior Jeb Savage shot a 76-76-75-227 while freshman Blake Rollins won the final three holes of his cup match to seal a victory and post a 3-0 cup record. Bingaman, Hoppe and Rollins all went 3-0 in the tournament and Jacobs, Savage, and Farmer went 2-0-1.
“We will really get to put ourselves to the test next week when we go down to La Veta for our first RMAC tournament and we hope to keep up the good play.” Bingaman said.
The golf team travels to La Veta, Colo. for the Pikes Peak Classic that starts Sept. 13 and ends the 14th at the Grandote Peaks Golf Club.