TicketsApril 30, 2013
CINCINNATI - David Tepe (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota East) carded a 2-under par 70 in the final round of the BIG EAST Championship on Tues., April 30 at the Reunion Resort in Orlando, Fla. to secure a first place individual finish. Tepe finished with a total score of 69-69-70=208 and led the field throughout the three-day competition. The win secured the first BIG EAST Men's Golf Championship for the Bearcats.
Tepe opened the day on the back nine, shooting two birdies on holes 15 and 16. The UC veteran collected a birdie and two even pars on his last three holes of the day to wrap up the title.
The last career tournament for the senior proved to be the most successful as Tepe earned medalist honors for the first time. He rebounded from a 45th place showing at the 2012 BIG EAST Championship and improved by 22 strokes from last year. It is his second top-10 finish at the tournament after finishing ninth in 2011.
"It is very exciting" said Tepe. "We put in a lot of hard work over the last 2 or 3 weeks. It is feels good to finally see the hard work pay off. My goal before I came down here was to make sure I made those 5-10 foot putts to keep the round going. I did that pretty well for the week and that really helped me. Overall, Coach Martin did a great job of getting us all prepared for the tournament, and it really showed."
Tepe's three-round total of 208 is a new career low. It also marks the first time he has recorded sub-par scores in all three rounds of a tournament.
"This is a testament to the determination and time he put into his training" said head coach Doug Martin. "Coming off the summer and the way he played this season, he worked very hard. He battled hard this week. Coming into the tournament he had not played his best golf of the season, but he came in very prepared this week. It is one of the things we talked about - to come into this tournament and be the most prepared team at the tournament. I feel confident that we did that."
The win was the lowest finish for a UC player at the BIG EAST Championship and marks the second consecutive tournament win for the Bearcats following freshman Emerson Newsome's (Hoschton, Ga./Mill Creek) win at the Old Waverly Intercollegiate Championship on April 9.
Cincinnati ended the championship with a 298-299-298=895 to earn a ninth place finish, three spots ahead of its 2012 position. The Bearcats' score also was 32 strokes improved upon their 927 strokes at last year's BIG EAST Championship.
Anchored by Tepe's championship victory, UC also earned strong performances from its other competitors. Newsome, competing for his first BIG EAST title, finished in a tie for 11th place after carding a 75-72-71=218. Sophomore Jared Howard (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) improved three strokes from his 2012 total to score a 76-74-77=227 for a share of 38th place. Sophomore Michael Wolf (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) finished in 58th position (78-84-80=242) and freshman Adam Millson (Union, Ky./Cooper) tied for 59th (81-84-86=251).
"I think from a team standpoint, when you look at what David and Emerson did, it bodes very well for the future of the program" said Martin. "We need to get some depth and some consistency from our three, four and five men. Once we get that, we will be a very good team. This is great for our program. Our goal for the week was to leave our mark on the BIG EAST. David definitely did that for us. He left Cincinnati's mark."
USF's Chase Koepka was the championship runner-up, finishing one stroke behind Tepe (70-70-69=209). Notre Dame's Cory Sciupider (72-72-67=211), St. John's' Ryan Gay (70-71-71=212) and Notre Dame's Niall Platt (71-74-69=214) rounded out the top-5 competitors.
In the team competition, USF took home top-honors, scoring a 290-287-281=858. St. John's took second with a 298-283-281=862 and Notre Dame finished third with a 288-296-280=864.
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