Gardner, Crea Lead Houston at Colin Montgomerie Invite

Monday, March 9

Augusta Pines Golf Club – Spring, Texas

University of Houston

Colin Montgomerie Invitational

Colin Montgomerie First-Day recap, Laurence Crea

Gardner, Crea Lead Houston at Colin Montgomerie Invite

3/9/2020 8:02:00 PM | Men's Golf

Cougar duo tied for 19th at 146; Final Round tees off Tuesday morning at Augusta Springs Golf Club

By: Jeff Conrad

Scoring \| Results \| Pairings

Team		Rounds				Score
		1	2	3	F
1.	Midland CC	287	286		573	-3
2.	New Orleans	284	292		576	E
3.	UT Rio Grande Valley	292	285		577	+1
4.	Abilene Christian	291	292		583	+7
5.	Houston Baptist	290	295		585	+9
t6.	Weber State	292	298		590	+14
t6.	Stephen F. Austin	297	293		590	+14
8.	UIW	296	295		591	+15
9.	Southeastern Louisiana	303	292		595	+19
10.	McNeese	300	299		599	+23
11.	North Dakota	318	302		620	+44
12.	Prairie View A&M	308	314		622	+46

HOUSTON LEADERS
		1	2	3	F
t19.	Laurence Crea (Ind.)	75	71		146	+2
t19.	George Gardner (Ind.)	70	76		146	+2
t65.	Alex Isakson (Ind.)	83	77		160	+16

OVERALL LEADERS
		1	2	3	F
1.	JT Pittman Midland CC	71	69		140	-4
t2.	Josef Hacker Midland CC	67	74		141	-3
t2.	Aadam Syed (Ind.) Midland CC	70	71		141	-3
t4.	John Hill UIW	71	71		142	-2
t4.	Grayson Gilbert New Orleans	72	70		142	-2
t4.	Logan Kuehn Southeastern Louisiana	71	71		142	-2
t4.	Tae Itthiratchai UT Rio Grande Valley	74	68		142	-2

SPRING, Texas – University of Houston Men's Golfers George Gardner and Laurence Crea each posted scores of 146 to tie for 19^th and lead the Cougars on the first day of the Colin Montgomerie Invitational on Monday evening.

Starting on No. 15, Gardner overcame a pair of bogeys on the first four holes of his First Round to drain four birdies in his final 14 holes and finish with a 70, the team's low round of the day on the 7,041-yard, par-71 course at Augusta Pines Golf Club.

Competing in his first season with the Cougars, Crea rallied from a 75 in the morning round to shoot a 71 in the afternoon session. Beginning off No. 16, the Cypress, Texas, native endured a bogey on No. 18 with birdies on No. 2 and No. 5.

Although another bogey moved him back to even-par on No. 8, Crea sank a birdie on the par-5 13^th hole and closed out the day with two straight pars.

Senior Alex Isakson was tied for 65^th at 160.

Midland Community College held the first-day lead with a score of 3-under 573 to finish three strokes ahead of New Orleans. UT Rio Grande Valley (577), Abilene Christian (583) and host Houston Baptist (585) rounded out the Top-5 leaders.

Individually, Midland's JT Pittman stood atop the individual leaderboard at 4-under 140. Teammates Aadam Syed and Jose Hacker were tied for second at 141 with four student-athletes tied for fourth at 142.

The Final Round begins with an 8:15 a.m., shotgun start Tuesday.

The Colin Montgomerie Invitational was a recent addition to the Cougars' spring schedule.

LIVE SCORING
Fans can follow live scoring at the Colin Montgomerie Invitational by clicking here.

PAIRINGS
For Tuesday's Final Round, the Cougars tee off at 8:15 a.m. Isakson begins in the first group off No. 18 with Gardner (No. 16) and Crea (No. 15) following.

Complete Final-Round pairings can be found by clicking here.

UP NEXT
Following the Colin Montgomerie Invitational, the Cougars will compete at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, Fla., on March 16-17.

From there, the team will tee off at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., on April 4-5.

STAY CONNECTED
Fans can receive updates by following @UHCougarMGolf on Twitter and catch up with the latest news and notes on the team by clicking LIKE on the team's Facebook page at UHCougarMGolf. Fans also can follow the team on Instagram at uhcougarmgolf.