Feb. 20, 2012

By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com

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JACKSON, Miss. - The Southern Illinois men's golf team finished 10th at the Frito Lay/Taco Bell Intercollegiate on Monday. The Salukis improved their score by 19 strokes from the first round and moved up two spots on the final day of the tournament. All five golfers improved their score in the second round.

Jake Erickson improved his first-round score by six strokes and finished with a two-round score of 156. Erickson was tied for 21st individually in the 73-player field.

Jeffrey Miller, who was tied with Erickson after the first round, finished second for SIU and tied for 30th overall. Miller hit a hole-in-one on the fourth hole, holing out from 170 yards away with an eight iron.

"He was telling the ball to do it, and I realized it was going to go in," head coach Leroy Newton said. "It was good the whole way."

Southern's 19-stroke improvement in the second round was the second-biggest jump in the tournament. The Salukis were the only team in the field where all five players improved their first-round scores.

Jeffrey Millerwas one of three players to record an eagle in the tournament. The Salukis posted the third-best score on par-3 holes, just three strokes away from the top spot, but they also posted the third-worst score on par-5 holes.

McNeese State won the tournament by two strokes over Georgia Southwestern. JP Griffin (Georgia Southwestern) and Brendon Caballero (UT Martin) tied for for the top spot individually.

The Salukis are back in action on March 5-6 for the Samford Intercollegiate in Birmingham, Ala. The Salukis placed 10th at the tournament last year.

INDIVIDUAL SCORES, PLACE
Southern Illinois, 335-316 (651), 10th
Jake Erickson - 81-75 (156), t21st
Jeffrey Miller - 81-79 (160), t30th
Richie Williams - 86-83 (169), t55th
George Tate - 90-79 (169), t55th
Brandon Cauldwell - 87-86 (173), 67th