Lopes finish final round in Hawaii

Friday, February 17

Kauai, Hawaii

Grand Canyon

John A. Burns Invitational

2/17/2017 8:22:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Mark Oshidari

LIHUE, Hawaii – The Grand Canyon men's golf team finished the three day John Burns Intercollegiate in 11^th place after the final 18 holes at Wailua Golf Course in Lihue, Hawaii on Thursday afternoon.

"Today was not our best day or the day we wanted to have but I was very proud of the way the team fought all day," said head coach Mark Mueller. "Jake struggled a little bit today but he kept fighting and just had a bad day those days just happen sometimes. He will learn from this and bounce back next event. Vinnie was very solid all three days, he had a great event, I was very proud of his finish today."

Despite dropping from seventh place to an 11^th place finish, the Lopes held their own in the tournament, finishing ahead of No. 25 Kennesaw State, Utah and Washington State.

The field included 11 top-100 programs, with the Lopes leading programs like Arizona and Washington after two days.

GCU was led by Vinnie Murphy with a top-20 finish. Murphy finished with rounds of 72-71-72, good for -1, 215. Murphy tied for the most pars in the tournament with 38.

Matt McClung and Billy Comeaux shot identical 74-71-76 rounds to finish at 221, just outside the top-50.

Jake Chanen shot 72-72-79, while Hayden Webb finished with 73-78-74.

"Billy and matt really hung tough today both of them did not have great days but battled for a 76 and kept our team in 11^th," said Mueller. "Hayden did a great job was very steady and his 74 really helped. I look for him to do great things coming up. Overall it was a solid start, we beat some good teams and we right in it going into today. We just had an off day, those days happen but we will work harder and get better over the next two weeks and look to have a great event in Sacramento."

GCU is back in action on March 6-7 at the Sacramento State Invitational, held in Elk Grove, Calif.