SPRING, Texas -- Freshman Drake Bushong (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) and senior Lyle Burns (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour/Parkland) both shot final round 73's, but were the only Braves to shoot in the 70's Tuesday as the Bradley men's golf team slipped to 10th in the final team standings at the Colin Montgomerie Invitational.
The Braves entered the final round at the par-72 Traditions of Cypresswood Golf Club tied for seventh after rounds of 294 and 295 Monday. A final round score of 311 knocked Bradley down to 10th in the 15-team field, however, to wrap up the first of back-to-back trips to the state of Texas for the Braves.
Bushong turned in his 18th consecutive sub-80 round of the year with a final round 73 to tie for 17th overall at 219. He now has 12 rounds in 2015-16 of 73 or better and owns a team-best 71.94 stroke average in addition to a team-high six top-20 finishes.
Burns matched Bushong for low-round honors of the day for the Braves with a 73, finishing two shots behind Bushong at 221 in a tie for 25th.
Junior Bobby Jacobs (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) tied for 60th at 231 after a final round 84 and sophomore Matthew Specht (Munster, Ind./Munster) also had an 84 to finish alone in 64th (232). Senior Garrett Cox (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) finished out the team scoring for Bradley with an 81 to tie for 65th in the field at 233.
Tournament-host Houston Baptist had the top two teams in the field with one squad finishing at an impressive 20-under 844 and the other shooting a par 864 to run away from the rest of the field. Central Arkansas took third at 874, while Weber State (4th - 879) and Oral Roberts (5th - 880) rounded out the top five.
Nicholls State finished in sixth (883) to edge seventh-place Abilene Christian (887) and eighth-place Texas-Rio Grande Valley (889). Northern Kentucky was three shots better than the Braves in ninth at 897, followed by Bradley in 10th (900). New Orleans was close behind in 11th at 901 and the rest of the field consisted of Incarnate Word (12th - 905), North Dakota (13th - 908), Western Illinois (14th - 910) and St. Thomas (15th - 933), respectively.
Bradley returns to action March 15-17 at the Bob Sitton Invitational in Dallas, Texas.
