Roman Robledo, Jesse Droemer stand among top-four individual leaders
HOUSTON – Posting the best team round of the day, the University of Houston golf team finished second with a 54-hole score of 866 at the Rice Intercollegiate at Westwood Country Club.
“Obviously, this was a much improved performance, and I am really proud of the guys,” head coach Jonathan Dismuke said. “One of our goals each tournament to have the low round, especially in the final round. If you can go out and post the low round of the day, you will move up the leaderboard and give yourself a chance.”
After posting back-to-back rounds of 291 on Monday, the Cougars shot a 4-under-par team round of 284 to move into second place with a score of 888 and finished only four strokes behind team champion Northwestern. Florida Gulf Coast (872), No. 35 Wichita State (874) and UTSA (875) rounded out the top-five team leaders.
The secret to the team’s success during the final 18 holes was no surprise to Dismuke. At times suffering from slow starts in the past, the Cougars began play on a hot streak and used that to build momentum throughout their rounds.
“We capitalized on more opportunities. It’s always good to get off to a great start, and that really helps. You want to narrow that gap as much as you can as soon as you can, and we were able to do that,” Dismuke said. “We made more putts early and became more comfortable, and that translated into nice round.”
Individually, two Cougars finished among the top-four individual leaders. Freshman Roman Robledo and sophomore Jesse Droemer – who was making his spring debut – each fired final-round 69s on the 7,184-yard, par-72 course to move higher on the leaderboard.
Robledo, a native of Harlingen, Texas, recorded his second round of 69 in the tournament to finish third at 212 for the best finish of his career. Droemer, a native of Sealy, Texas, tied for fourth at 213. Both players posted five birdies with only two bogeys in their respective rounds to lead the Cougars.
“I am really proud of those guys. For three rounds, they played great golf and were in the mix the entire time. I can’t say enough about Roman and Jesse,” Dismuke said. “They led by example and were calm, cool and collected this week.”
Other Cougars in action were sophomore Curtis Reed (t-38, 223), freshman Kyle Pilgrim (t-38th, 223) – who was making his collegiate debut – junior James Ross (51st, 225) and sophomore Wesley McClain (t-54th, 227), who competed as an individual.
“Kyle’s play really gave us a chance to win Tuesday,” Dismuke said. “We didn’t quite get it done, but I was proud of Kyle and the way he put together a great round.”
On the individual leaderboard, Northwestern’s Eric Chun defeated New Mexico State’s Zachery Fullerton on the third hole of sudden death after both players tied at 210 through 54 holes. Droemer tied with Missouri State’s Jordan McLaurin.
UP NEXT
Following the Rice Intercollegiate, the Cougars will compete in their second tournament of the week when they tee off at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate at Classic Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif. That two-day, 54-hole event begins Saturday morning.
“We will have a good taste in our mouths heading out to California,” Dismuke said. “Obviously, we want to draw off this past success, but these are two separate and totally different events, so we must continue to work hard and improve every day.”
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