Florida Tech Freshman Gaelen Trew Ties For 33rd At NCAA Golf Championships

By  //  May 21, 2015

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Gaelen Trew didn’t have the day he envisioned, but the Florida Tech freshman still tied for 33rd out of 108 players at the NCAA Division II Championship Wednesday at Rock Barn Golf and Spa. (FIT Image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Gaelen Trew didn’t have the day he envisioned, but the Florida Tech freshman still tied for 33rd out of 108 players at the NCAA Division II Championship Wednesday at Rock Barn Golf and Spa.

His appearance marked the first time a Panther had qualified for the men’s golf national championship in the program’s 12-year history.

Trew entered the day tied for 25th at two-over. He fared well on the front nine of round three, but ran into some trouble on the back end to finish at six-over.

“Today was not exactly the round he was gearing up for,” head coach Chris Saltmarsh said.

“Sometimes wanting to play well and putting pressure on yourself works against you. He’s young and still learning some valuable lessons. You could tell he fell into some old, bad habits and he fought them so much he started hitting in directions he hadn’t in the previous two rounds.”

Chris Saltmarsh
Chris Saltmarsh

“This course was also an endurance battle walking up and down some pretty steep hills. That takes a toll on you when the pressure is on, as well, especially after three days of hard, physical and mental work.”

Starting the third round on the first hole, Trew drilled a 35-foot putt for his eighth birdie of the tournament. He dropped back down to even early in the round following a bogey on the fifth hole. He then bogeyed the eighth, which he birdied in each of the first two rounds.

Heading to the back nine at one-over for the day, the mechanical engineering major from Johannesburg, South Africa bogeyed three consecutive par-fours. He settled down to collect a par on 13 and a birdie on 14.

Now at three-over through the last 14 holes, he double bogeyed the par-three, 150-yard 15th hole only to regroup once again and finish strong. He knocked in two consecutive pars and finished the season with his 10th birdie of the tournament on No. 18.

He closed out the tournament tying for the best scoring average among the 108 competitors on par fives at 4.44 strokes. He also finished five-under on par fives.

“This was a great experience for him,” Saltmarsh added.

“We look forward to his future here and the leadership he will help provide the team in his career at Florida Tech.”

Central Missouri’s Sam Migdal hung on to first place for all three rounds to become the 2015 individual national champion at eight-under. Lynn’s Mateo Gomez turned in a four-under 67 to jump five places and grab the runner-up spot at five-under.

Saint Leo’s Ryan Genrdon shot one-over for the round and dropped from a first-place tie to third at four-under.

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Eight teams will now move on to the match play portion of the championship, where the national title will be decided among the teams.

Advancing are Lynn, Nova Southeastern, Central Missouri, Saint Leo, Simon Fraser, South Carolina-Aiken, Chico State and Florida Southern. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played Thursday and the finals are on Friday.

Friday’s championship match will be video streamed at NCAA.com starting at 12:45 p.m.