Short-handed Pioneers rally for title; Williamson wins

Final Results
SAN ANTONIO – Despite playing a man down, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers rallied to secure the title at the spring season-opening San Antonio Shootout, where WBU sophomore Andrew Williamson captured the first individual title of his collegiate career.

"That was a big one," Wayland coach Tom Harp said. "To have five of the top 10 teams there, that was a big win for Andrew and for the team."

Trailing second-ranked leader Oklahoma City by six shots after Monday's first two rounds, the sixth-ranked Pioneers shot a 301 on the extra-rough TPC-San Antonio Oaks Course on Tuesday to win by five shots over the Stars, who struggled home with a 312. Wayland, following rounds of 296 and 290 Monday, wound up with a 23-over-par 887 total.

Tenth-ranked Texas Wesleyan placed third at 900, followed by seventh-ranked Grand View (Iowa) at 907 and eighth-ranked Johnson & Wales (Fla.) at 910. Eleven teams participated.

To rally against a high-caliber team such as OCU would be impressive under any circumstance, but to do it the way Wayland did on a course rated one of the top five toughest on the PGA Tour, well, that was especially impressive.

The Pioneers played without junior Steven Diack for the final 18 holes after Diack, who was coming off a victory at the Claud Jacobs Invitational two weeks earlier, became sick and unable to play the final round.

"We knew he was sick before we started (Monday), then this morning he couldn't get up," Harp said of Diack, who shot 73-78 Monday. "It was disappointing for him because that's one of the best courses we'll see all year and he had been looking forward to it. Plus he was disappointed to not be able to help out the team."

Instead of getting to throw out the high round among five golfers, Wayland now had to take the scores of all of its remaining four competitors.

"That puts a lot of pressure on those four guys. They couldn't afford any mistakes," Harp said. "The pressure was really high knowing they didn't have anybody to fall back on."

The Pioneers, however, took the challenge head-on, and leading the way was Williamson.

The sophomore from Pretoria, South Africa, was in second place two shots behind the leader after rounds of 3-under 69 and 1-under 71 Monday. But while others around him were struggling Tuesday, Williamson stayed steady and brought home the trophy with a 73, good for a three-shot win over David Ravetto of Texas Wesleyan (71-67-78—216).

"Andrew just played solid," Harp said. "He played really smart and put the ball in play. He hit some incredibly clutch shots coming down the stretch."

After starting his day on No. 3 and posting back-to-back birdies, Williamson played the next 15 holes even – one birdie, one bogey. Splitting the Oaks' tight fairways, he lipped out a birdie on the 18^th and just missed another birdie on No. 1 before on his closing hole, the par-5 No. 2, Williamson came up with what Harp called one of the most clutch shots he's seen in some time.

Believing he needed to make a birdie for the team to win, Harp said Williamson "was about 280 yards out and lasered a 3-wood right at the pin."

After a 20-foot eagle putt from the front fringe, Williamson tapped in for the last of his 10 birdies.

Ian Ansett was the next highest finisher for Wayland, tied for 13^th place in the 62-golfer field. Ansett sandwiched a nice 69 in between rounds of 79 and Tuesday's 78 for a 226 total. Freshman Dean Martin had similar scores – 77-72-78 – and finished a shot behind Ansett tied for 16^th.

Sophomore George Scanlon, meanwhile, came through big time Tuesday. After disappointing rounds of 77 and 83 Monday, Scanlon fired an even-par 72, Tuesday's third-lowest round, for a 232.

Harp said Dean, in his first collegiate tournament, and Scanlon both answered the call.

"That was a big-time comeback today for George," the coach said. "It was big for our team to have him step up like that."

Rounding out Wayland's scores on the challenging course that will host the PGA's Valero Texas Open in April was Tristan Cottrell, who while competing as a medalist shot 83-74-78—235 and tied for 31^st.

The Pioneers return to tournament play on Monday and Tuesday at the NAIA Contender at the TPC Four Seasons in Irving.