PUEBLO, Colo. (Oct. 5, 2021) – Golf taketh away sometimes, as
Alejandro Armijo was reminded of last week. But golf also giveth, and the Oklahoma Christian player took full advantage of that gift on Tuesday at Pueblo Country Club.
Armijo fired a bogey-free 5-under-par 66, steadily moved up the leaderboard and earned his second collegiate win – his first at the NCAA Division II level – in the Farmers Insurance Samuel Prohl Invitational/South Central-West Regional Preview. Armijo's two-round score of 134 (8-under) was one shot better than Darren Edwards of Fort Lewis (Colo.).
No. 14-ranked OC also won its second tournament title in as many weeks. The Eagles, with four players in the top 20, posted a team score of 277 for an overall score of 551, eight shots ahead of Lone Star Conference rival Midwestern State (Texas) and nine ahead of third-place Colorado Mesa. No. 14 Texas A&M-Commerce took fourth in the 19-team field at 563.
It was a landmark team win – the 75th in OC program history – and Armijo became the second OC player in as many weeks to post his first win with the Eagles, as sophomore
Mateo Pulcini took top honors in the Missouri Southern Fall Invitational. Armijo is the 24th OC player to record at least one tournament win with the program. His previous collegiate win came as a freshman at Oregon Tech of the NAIA.
Armijo almost earned that elusive first Division II win in the Missouri Southern tournament at Shangri-La Golf Club in Monkey Island, Okla. He was tied with Pulcini and one other player entering the final hole, No. 18, and needed only an approach shot onto an island green and a two-putt to make par and earn a share of the title. But he hit his wedge into the water and ended up with a double bogey, finishing in a tie for fourth.
Thus motivated, Armijo began Tuesday's round tied for eighth in the 100-man field at 3-under on the 6,522-yard course. He opened with birdies on No. 1 and No. 2 (each a par-4) and birdied No. 7, a par-5, to move within a shot of the lead. With a birdie on the par-5 No. 11 and another on the par-3 No. 17, he took the kead.
Throughout his round, his putter sizzled and he made a handful of par saves, none bigger than on the par-4 No. 18. His tee shot went right, hit a tree and bounced into the rough. Fortunately, he had an unobstructed view to the green, although his second shot landed just short of a greenside bunker, in rough left of the green.
He chipped to 18 feet, then drained that putt to seal his one-shot win.
Joining Armijo in the top five was senior
Andres Brictson of Merida, Mexico, who tied for fourth at 137 (5-under). Brictson started his final round with three straight bogeys, but recovered to record six birdies over his final 15 holes and finish the round at 2-under 69.
Pulcini, from Rio Cuarto, Argentina, had two birdies and an eagle on the par-5 No. 14 en route to a 70. At 139 (3-under), he tied for 11th. Freshman
Santiago Villareal of Cordoba, Argentina, tied for 19th at 141 after posting a 72 that included two birdies. Freshman
Exequiel Rodriguez of Buenos Aires, Argentina, shot a 73 with four birdies and tied for 62nd at 149.
During the two-day tournament, the Eagles had 42 birdies and three eagles, tying for the lead in both categories.
OC will take a step up in competition next week, as the Eagles will be the only Division II team in an otherwise NCAA Division I tournament, the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate, to be hosted by Arkansas State at RidgePointe Country Club in Jonesboro, Ark., on Monday and Tuesday.
FINAL RESULTS
