Final Results

HIGHLAND, Mich. (4/13/2013) -- It was cold. It was wet. It was windy. It started to snow and it barely made it above 40 degrees but the Detroit Titans Invitational concluded the last of its three rounds on Saturday as the University of Detroit Mercy men's golf team captured the team championship and junior Brendan Leonard placed second individually.
 
The Titans carded an 872 as a team shooting a 287 on the final day while Leonard finished two under par and two strokes behind Evan Bowser from Oakland.
 
Cleveland State finished second with an 891 followed by Youngstown State (899), Valparaiso (906), and Oakland (908) who rounded out the top five.
 
“They all hung together, they all played hard they all fed off each other and ignored the elements because it was too cold, it was too windy, it was too something to do what they did, but the guys did it,” said UDM men's golf head coach Mark Engel.
 
Individually, freshman Wil Wittmann finished tied for third overall and a 69 in the final round to finish with a score of 215.
 
Bowser opened with a 72 in the first round, added a 69 in the second round and finished with a 71 for a total of 212. Leonard opened with a 70 and then a 75 in round two nearly had him out of the running but a 69 in the final round moved him into second place.
 
UDM had a score of 585 and was leading by eight strokes over second place Cleveland State and Youngstown State heading into Saturday's final round.
 
A 69 from both Leonard and Wittmann coupled with a 72 from senior Simon Reyers and 77's from freshmen Josh Shaw and Austin Eccleton helped the Titans keep their lead and hold on for the victory.
 
It was the third team win for Detroit in a tournament the Titans have hosted every year since 1995. The last UDM win came in 2011 and third victory was in 2008. 
 
“I think they're feeling real good right now not just about winning the tournament, and not just about beating all the Horizon League teams [minus one], but also just that we have been getting better and better,” added Engel.
 
Senior Sheldon Keyte, junior Kyle Benford, and freshman Aaron Knutson all competed individually. Keyte finished with a 231, Benford carded a 243 while Knutson totaled a 241.

The two-day event was 54 holes played at the Par 72, 7,142-yard Prestwick Village Golf Club. The first two rounds of play started at 9:00 a.m. on Friday instead of 8:30 a.m. and the final 18 holes began at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday in a field of 12 teams. Canisius, Cleveland State, Green Bay, Humber (Ontario), Iona, Madonna, Oakland, two Valparaiso teams, along with Wright State, Youngstown State and the hosts from Detroit were all part of the competition.
 
This will be the final scheduled preparation before the Horizon League Championships at Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla set for April 26-28 at the El Campeon Course at the Mission Inn Resort.