LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Dayton senior Chris Woeste captured the individual championship at the 2011 University of Kentucky Bluegrass Invitational by two strokes.
Woeste matched a career-best 67 in round three to propel him to his first career title. In his previous two rounds, Woeste fired back-to-back scores of 73 leading to a total of 213.
“He flat out played awesome,” said head coach
Gip Hoagland. “No one else shot under par today and to shoot what he shot was amazing.”
The Centerville, Ohio native and Alter High School grad was tied for 15th after two rounds of play. Yet in the third round Woeste battled back and his 67 ended up the only score below par in the field.
Competing against teams from the BIG EAST, SEC and Big Ten, the Flyers as a team came in seventh with a round two team score of 298 and a third round score of 297. It is UD’s highest finish in the four-year history of the UK Bluegrass Invitational.
Sophomore Sean Keating enjoyed another strong showing firing rounds of 73 and 77 to close the tournament. Junior Michael Oberschmidt followed up his 77 in round one with a 74 in round two and a 77 in the third.
Sophomore Brenten Blakeman added a 74 in the first round, 78 in the second and bounced back with a 76 in round three.
Sophomore Mike Griffin rounded out the scoring with an 82 in round two and a 77 in the third.
“We improved today,” Hoagland said. “We haven’t played better in the third round of late, but we did that today and in difficult conditions.”
Yet the day belonged to Woeste. The 2008 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year's 67 matched a previous career-best when he shot the same score at the 2009 Renaissance Invitational.
Woeste’s individual championship was also the first of the year for Dayton. The last individual championship for the Flyers came when Jeff Hodapp won the 2009 John Piper Intercollegiate at Bowling Green State.
