PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – It was an exciting final round at PGA Golf Club on Sunday that included two playoffs, with both the men’s and women’s teams from Bethune-Cookman University claiming titles at the 27th PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship presented by Brown Capital Management.
In the women’s division, Bethune-Cookman captured the title in thrilling fashion. The Wildcats defeated the University of Texas-Pan American on the first playoff hole to claim their championship-record 10th overall title.
Both teams finished with a 909 total then headed back to the 18th hole on the Ryder Course for the playoff. In the playoff, each team took the four lowest scores of the five players who played the hole. Bethune-Cookman finished with a total score of 1 under par, while Texas-Pan American finished 1 over par on the playoff hole.
Chicago State University finished alone in third place overall at 935.
The Bethune-Cookman women’s team was led by Andrea Orozco, who was also the women’s team medalist, finishing with a 54-hole total of 4-over-par 220.
The Bethune-Cookman men’s team also won in exciting fashion, making up a four-stroke deficit in the final round, and winning by a single stroke over 36-hole leader Texas-Pan American. Alabama State University finished third, 12 strokes behind Bethune-Cookman.
The Wildcat men, who finished with an 883 total, were led by freshman Ryan Fricker. The Englishman shot a final-round 71 on the Wanamaker Course to finish third in the men’s Division I medalist race. Kevin Kirakossian, a senior on the Texas-Pan American team, claimed medalist honors.
“We really didn’t play well yesterday and almost let the Championship slip away,” said Fricker. “I was happy to help the team today and it felt good to win this championship in my first appearance. It was really cool.”
PGA Professional Scooter Clark, the head coach at Bethune-Cookman, was extremely pleased with both team’s performances in the final round.
“It was a long and a very stressful day out there,” said Clark, who is in his third year as head coach. “But both teams really grinded and I am just thrilled to take home both titles in this incredible tournament. It is really satisfying.”
In Division II, Lincoln University from Jefferson City, Mo., took home its fifth overall title, closing with a final-round 302 and an 898 total. Texas A&M International finished second at 922, while Virginia State University finished third at 932.
The Blue Tigers of Lincoln University were led by Steven Mallow, who finished with 4-over-par 220 total.
Zach Smith of Virginia State University claimed Division II medalist honors, finishing with an even-par 216 total.
In the Men's Independent Division, Robert Grant of Alabama State University won an exciting three-person playoff to earn the title. The England native holed-out from 133 yards for eagle on the 18th hole to force the playoff, and hit his approach, on the same 18th hole in the playoff, to two feet for birdie to capture the title in his first attempt.
Justin Watkins, the 2012 men’s independent champion, from the University of Central Oklahoma and Daniel Inocencio of UNLV tied for second place after both made bogey on the playoff hole.
“I absolutely pured the shot from 133 yards and saw it hit the flag. Then I saw my teammates go crazy and I knew it was in,” said Grant. “And then to hit another great shot in the playoff was just incredible. This event is our National Championship and it’s so great to win it.”
In the Women's Independent Division, Alexis Belton of Texas Wesleyan closed with a 74 to win the title by a single stroke over Samantha Garcia of Texas-Pan American.
“I came into the final round and I just wanted to have fun and try to play my best,” said Belton, who was competing in her first PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship. “It felt great to win and I can’t wait to come back and play again next year.”
In the NAIA division, Talladega (Ala.) College captured its second title overall title in the Championship and first since 2010. The Tornado led throughout the Championship and finished well ahead of Edward Waters College of Jacksonville, Fla.
Kevin Parker of Edward Waters College claimed the NAIA division medalist honors, finishing with a sparkling 6-under-par 210 total.
The PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship presented by Brown Capital Management, which is celebrating its 27th edition this year, originated in November 1986 following the Jackson State University Golf Tournament, and has elevated golf in minority colleges and universities by providing opportunities to more players to compete in a national championship.
In 2006, The PGA of America was granted complete ownership and management of the championship by the National Minority Collegiate Golf Scholarship Fund.
Final Scores
Men's Team Division I
1 Bethune-Cookman (+19) 283-306-294---883
Ryan Fricker 69-75-71--215
Matthew McKnight 72-76-76--224
Leon Fricker 69-80-72--221
Emmanuel Petrich 73-76-76--225
Alex Clapp 77-79-75—231
2 Texas Pan American (+20) 294-291-299---884
Kevin Kirakossian 74-67-71--212
Johnathan Sloss 75-77-76--228
Mathew Charles 72-73-76--221
Ricky Solis 73-74-76--223
Chris Felix 76-78-81—235
3 Alabama State (+31) 301-293-301---895
Francis Berthiaume 72-70-76--218
Branson Ferrier 74-70-70--214
Jose Rodriguez 78-77-80--235
Chris Wilson 78-76-75--229
Dan Park 77-83-82—242
4 Tennessee State (+35) 297-302-300---899
Cameron Scitern 75-74-78--227
James Stepp 75-73-74--222
Andrew Warner 72-79-72--223
Dallas Hill 80-76-76--232
Codie Welborn 75-79-80--234
5 Savannah State (+41) 293-313-299---905
Travis Roe 69-77-71--217
Brandon Neals 78-78-76--232
Caleb Simons 77-89-78--244
Scott Rogers 73-79-76--228
Ryan Lassiter 74-79-76--229
6 Florida A&M (+63) 305-313-309---927
Justin Stills 80-75-71--226
Anthony Phipps II 72-77-74--223
Cody Sapp 76-90-83--249
Omari Whitmore 77-71-81--229
7 North Carolina Central 312-307-323---942
Glendon Mabe 74-71-84--229
Spencer Jones 79-77-78--234
Garreth Carpenter 80-83-93--256
Michael Wilson 81-76-79--236
Andre Jones 79-85-82—246
8 Maryland Eastern Shore 325-306-331---962
Mike Veverka 73-73-72--218
Paul Cecil 88-82-87--257
Christopher Toney 84-88-88--260
Jon Seward 81-79-89--249
Michael Ferguson 87-72-84—243
9 Texas Southern 338-324-322---984
William Wells 92-74-81--247
Mike Calvillo 87-84-81--252
Josiah Brown 82-81-81--244
Luis Colon-Gonzalez 90-89-79--258
Quinton Leonard 79-85-85--249
10 Hampton 331-342-325---998
Curtis Fearrington 77-80-79--236
Dawson Hobbs 83-85-83--251
Brandon Reed 86-88-86--260
Mark Irwin 88-89-77--254
Tyler Davis 85-90-97—272
11 Arkansas at Pine Bluff 341-343-328---1012
Nqobani E. Ndabambi 76-75-71--222
Caleb W. Ray 85-85-73--243
Elliott Rollings, Jr. 88-91-89--268
Matthew C. Dismuke 92-96-98--286
Joseph Q. Franklin 96-92-95—283
Men’s Team Division II
1 Lincoln 295-301-302---898
Steven Mallow 71-75-74--220
Austin Wheeler 72-78-76--226
Nick Goeke 76-72-75--223
Kenny Conrad 81-76-77--234
Eric Kosmatka 76-80-81--237
2 Texas A&M International 309-300-313---922
Anthony Martinez 80-74-78--232
Sammie Goldfarb III 75-75-81--231
Juan Ruben Gonzalez 78-79-77--234
Zachary Jackson 76-73-81--230
Alberto Gutierrez 80-78-77--235
3 Virginia State 311-308-313---932
Aaron Bryant 78-81-79--238
Zack Smith 75-68-73--216
Rashad Hunt 79-86-80--245
Adam Clary 79-81-81--241
Ben Shields 82-78-88--248
4 Virginia Union 326-314-321---961
Mason Simpson 75-73-71--219
Taylor Nelson 88-71-85--244
Julian Bowers 85-84-79--248
J. Freeman Johnson 78-86-86--250
Stephen Velasquez 106-97-107--310
5 Fayetteville State 337-312-314---963
Jacob Barge 72-76-72--220
Brandon Jobe 81-74-72--227
Justin Smith 87-82-79--248
Jake Bergman 101-80-91--272
Antonio Mayo 97-97-97--291
6 Morehouse College 328-330-325---983
Justin McElderry 88-87-80--255
Bruce Cousin 80-80-80--240
Christopher Norman 78-85-88--251
Anthony Body 82-78-77--237
Caleb May 92-91-90--273
7 Paine College 335-317-336---988
Carlos Solis 73-70-77--220
Victor Tapia 80-78-77--235
Jerrell Hubbard 80-75-83--238
Jordan Bailey 103-NC-NC--NC
Ralph Godbee 102-94-99--295
8 St. Augustine's College 334-335-346---1015
Paolo Ceyrolles 81-84-81--246
Michael Gardner 89-82-82--253
Chris Jackson 81-81-83--245
Aaron Peskett 83-94-103--280
Antonio Deese 98-88-100—286
NAIA Division
1 Talladega College 304-305-301---910
Jonathan Ortiz 74-75-71--220
Daniel Pachon-Vargas 80-78-79--237
Drake Mosely 76-74-75--225
Duke Whatley, Jr. 84-85-76--245
Maram Aaron Macham 74-78-85--237
2 Edward Waters College 321-318-332---971
Kevin Parker 72-67-71--210
Alvin Vicioso 80-80-89--249
Dylan Watts 88-89-88--265
Tyler Johnson 81-83-84--248
Josh Bowman 88-88-94--270
Women’s Team Division
T1 Bethune-Cookman 299-293-317---909
Patrizia Trevisan 74-74-79--227
Andrea Orozco 75-69-76--220
Marie Bergelin 74-77-80--231
Estefania Acosta 76-73-82--231
Vanessa Adarme 86-98-83—267
T1 Texas Pan American 309-296-304---909
Blake Peterson 77-75-78--230
Sarah Kothny 75-74-73--222
Marisa Canales 79-72-77--228
Ashley Garcia 84-85-89--258
Elena Arroyo 78-75-76—229
3 Chicago State 318-308-309---935
Jessica Peatross 88-75-77--240
Brooke Melvin 75-76-77--228
Andrea Rosado 75-79-78--232
Lorelle Weavers 84-78-77--239
Vivian Garciaferro 84-79-83—246
4 Delaware State 321-329-318---968
Mengxuan Gai 89-85-76--250
Nicole Rafer 78-79-81--238
Aisha Peete 75-85-77--237
Brooke Foster 79-80-84—243
5 Texas Southern 325-339-328---992
Kassandra Rivera 71-81-81--233
Adriana Trevino 77-83-87--247
Carmen Gonzales 84-83-74--241
Tyler Lawrence 93-92-86--271
Angela Rafac 96-94-97—287
6 Lincoln 344-327-342---1013
Payton Schooler 86-77-90--253
Kaitlyn Schwartze 82-78-77--237
Sophie Pardalos 85-82-88--255
Kara Harwood 91-90-87--268
7 Hampton 338-348-343---1029
Maria Stewart 80-82-81--243
Nicole West 80-84-84--248
Mikea Granberry 86-79-79--244
Crystal Smitherman 92-112-107--311
Milan James 108-103-99—310
8 Texas A&M International 339-358-359---1056
Abigail Palacios 80-90-88--258
Victoria Young 90-88-97--275
Mitzi Cantu 82-87-83--252
Amber Lopez 90-93-93--276
Yesenia Ramirez 87-94-95--276
Men’s Independent Division
T1 Robert Grant, Alabama State 71-77-73--221
Justin Watkins, Central Oklahoma 75-79-67--221
Daniel Inocencio, UNLV 73-76-72--221
4 Casey Foster, Central Oklahoma 77-78-72--227
T5 JaMichael Jones, Bethune-Cookman 77-78-73--228
Alden Mark Davis, Southeastern 72-79-77--228
7 Derek Smith, Ferris State 79-74-76--229
8 Josiah Singletary, Methodist 81-77-76--234
9 Corey Price, Alabama State 77-81-79--237
T10 Norman Blanco, Maryland Eastern Shore 81-76-84--241
Omari Howard, Virginia State 83-80-78--241
12 Brencis Stanford, Johnson C. Smith 84-81-77--242
13 William Godfrey, Francis Marion 78-82-83--243
T14 Joseph Killebrew, Alabama State 84-78-82--244
Chris Yoo, Benedict College 85-80-79--244
16 Brandon Howard, Ferris State 80-83-83--246
17 Ian Mmbando, Alabama State 78-86-83--247
18 Kosta Ramirez, Ferris State 86-84-79--249
19 Minsoo Soh, Maryland Eastern Shore 79-81-90--250
20 Rhaulston Jones, Benedict College 86-86-80--252
21 Gavin Parker, Campbell 87-89-81--257
T22 Sean Wilson, Chowan 85-87-87--259
Michael Harden, Clemson 82-94-83--259
T24 Alex Stewart, Livingstone College 80-93-87--260
Patrick Harris, Maryland Eastern Shore 88-87-85--260
T26 Erik Potts, Hannibal-LaGrange 90-81-90--261
Nivel Felicien, Maryland Eastern Shore 90-81-90--261
28 Lawrence McKenzie, Livingstone College 90-97-75--262
29 Johanan Edmeade, Johnson C. Smith 98-84-83--265
30 James Alexander Fernand, Central Oklahoma 96-87-87--270
31 Richard Sheppard, Maryland Eastern Shore 102-91-85--278
32 Sederic Bailey, Maryland Eastern Shore 100-91-96--287
33 Spencer Smith, Edward Waters College 106-97-96--299
34 Richard Fleming, Maryland Eastern Shore 104-97-104--305
35 Ben Davis, Calumet College of Saint 90-88-NC—NC
Women's Independent Division
1 Alexis Belton, Texas Wesleyan 77-72-74--223
2 Samantha Garcia, Texas Pan American 74-77-73--224
3 Cheryl Chua, South Carolina State 71-80-77--228
4 Tiana Jones, South Carolina State 76-78-75--229
5 Cassandra Lesa, Utah Valley 80-78-75--233
6 Cherie Chua, South Carolina State 79-75-83--237
7 Diana Flores, Chicago State 85-75-79--239
T8 Sierra Everson, Akron 81-78-84--243
Whitney Young, Wheeling Jesuit 80-81-82--243
10 Katelyn Snipes-Cohee, Murray State College 79-80-86--245
11 Kalea Heu, Utah Valley 83-83-84--250
T12 Jocelyn Williams, Savannah State 86-82-84--252
Alexandra Uduk, Maryland Eastern Shore 85-80-87--252
14 Michelle Gifford, Savannah State 85-84-85--254
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