NAPA, Calif. (March 25, 2025) – The University of North Alabama men's golf team finished the Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational on Tuesday at the Silverado Resort (North) in Napa, Calif. in ninth place. The Lions finished 16-over as a team.
The Lions finished in seventh on day one of the tournament but slid down a couple spots after highlight days for other teams. No. 27 BYU finished a spot behind UNA yesterday. Today, they climbed all the way back into third with a 16-under day.
Junior
Xing Luo finished tied for second with a one-under final day for a 208-stroke score. This score ties the third-best of his career which came in the 2024 Turtle Point Invite. Luo led all players with 16 birdies for the tournament and was first in par-4s at eight-under for the three rounds. San Francisco's Taehoon Park was second for par-4s with a three-under for the tournament.
Tohoku Fukushi won with a 21-under tournament as a team, including a seven-under round three. Santa Clara finished in second at 16-under where they finished with a nine-under round three.
As mentioned, No. 27 BYU stormed back in round three. They finished both the first two rounds over as a team. On day three, BYU notched 28 birdies and two eagles to claim a top three finish.
After BYU finished five-under, that concluded the teams that finished under for the tournament.
Nihon University finished with a one-over day for fourth place. San Francisco finished in fifth with a two-over while Michigan State finished with a four-over for sixth.
Cal Poly jumped two spots in the final day with a 13-over tournament which saw them break even for round three. UC Davis finished at 15-over to edge out UNA as the Lions notched a 16-over for the three rounds. Florida A&M finished with 34-over for 10th.
North Carolina A&T, Howard, Central Michigan and Texas Southern filled out the 11, 12, 13 and 14 spots for the tournament. Former NBA player and current NC A&T golfer JR Smith finished 77th as an individual with a 33-over tournament.
As Luo finished in second, the next Lion was
Chase Kaiser at 39th for an eight-over in two days. He added two birdies in the third round. Sophomore
Andrew Ferworn moved up four spots for a tie in 41st with a two-over final round. He notched four birdies in every round of this tournament.
Blake Henriques finished 52nd with an 11-over two days. He had 10 total birdies for the tournament. Junior
Sebastian Bengtsson moved up three spots to 57th with his best round at three-over. He doubled his birdies in the final round.
Luo ranked 138th in the nation coming into the Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational. He beat out the 85th, 97th, 111th, 128th and 143rd players in the nation. Three of those players reside at BYU.
The Lions finished with 22 birdies in the first round and 15 in the second.
"Just another tough week reset for next week and turn things around," said The Schmitz Family Head Men's Golf Coach, Austin Phillips. "Glad to be able to come out to Cali and we will better for the next few tournaments. Xing continues to play great golf and good to see him come on top of the NCAA golfers."
After the conclusion of the Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational, the Lions travel to Pawleys Island, S.C. to compete in the Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Invite at the True Blue golf Resort starting on Monday, March 31. This will be one of two final tournaments before the ASUN Championship.
Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational
Silverado Resort (North)
Team Leaderboard
1. Tohoku Fukushi 836 -23
2. Santa Clara 847 -17
3. #27 BYU 859 -5
4. NIhon Univ. 860 +1
5. San Francisco 866 +2
6. Michigan State 868 +4
7. Cal Poly 877 +13
8. UC Davis 879 +15
9. North Alabama 880 +16
10. Florida A&M 898 +34
11. NC A&T 909 +45
12. Howard 911 +47
13. Central Michigan 930 +66
14. Texas Southern 944 +80
North Alabama Golfers
T2.
Xing Luo 208 | -8
T39.
Chase Kaiser 224 | +8
T41.
Andrew Ferworn 225 | +9
T52.
Blake Henriques 227| +11
T57.
Sebastian Bengtsson 230 | +14
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
