NAPA, Calif. – North Carolina A&T freshman men's golfer Ignacio Zapata ascended 21 spots up the leaderboard on Tuesday by shooting a final round 3-under 69 as the Aggies completed the two-day, three-round Bridgestone Invitational hosted by Central Michigan University at the par 72, 6,889-yard Silverado Country Club & Resort.
Zapata finished 45th in the tournament after placing 66th over the first two rounds. With his tremendous round on Tuesday, Zapata finished the tournament in a seven-way tie at 10-over (81-76-69—226).
Tohoku Fukushi's Koichiro Furuse led the tournament throughout the tournament, winning the individual title at 10-under (67-68-71—206). Nihon University's Masato Sumiuchi, Kaito Sato of Tohoku Fukushi and North Alabama's Xing Liu finished two shots behind Furuse at 2-under.
Sumiuchi shot 69-68-71—208 for the tournament, and Sato finished third with a three-round 68-73-67—208. Meanwhile, Liu completed his three rounds by shooting 68-69-67—208.
A&T moved up one spot to finish 11th by shooting a third-round 303. The Aggies finished the tournament at 45-over (305-301-303—909). Tohoku Fukushi won the tournament by shooting 23-under (279-283-279—841), six shots ahead of Santa Clara at 282-287-278—847). Brigham Young University (BYU) also finished in the red numbers by finishing third with a three-round 291-296-272—859.
Zapata had a career round, starting his morning on the par 4, 10th with a successful par putt. Three more par putts followed before he secured a birdie on the 390-yard, par 4 14th. Three consecutive pars came next before another birdie, this one on the 570-yard par 5 18th, moving him 2-under for the round.
He moved to the front nine, where he birdied the par 3, 148-yard second and the par 4, 393-yard third to get to 4-under for the round. Zapata ran into a rough patch on six and seven with bogeys before turning to the red to end his round and the tournament with a birdie on the 521-yard, par 5, ninth.
Freshman Javier Morgado, who placed in the top 20 after two rounds on Monday, finished the tournament in a three-way tie for 33rd. Morgado shot a final round 78 to finish the tournament at 6-over 72-72-78—222. He carded 12 pars and six bogeys on his final round card.
Freshman Agib Hughes carded an impressive four birdies on Tuesday. Hughes shot 78 during his final round after an unfortunate triple bogey and two double bogeys. He shot 77-77-78—232 to finish the tournament at 16-over. He finished in a tie for 61st.
Hughes started his round on the 10th with a double bogey. He got a shot back on the par 4, 413-yard 13th. He lost two additional shots with bogeys on 16 and 17 before finishing the back nine with a birdie on 18. After shooting 2-over on the back nine, Hughes started the front nine with a birdie on the par 4, 432-yard first, moving to 1-over for the round.
Hughes' front also included bogey, double, and triple bogey before his round ended with a birdie on the ninth. Sophomore Camilo Marin finished the tournament with a three-round 78-76-81—235 to finish at 19-over. He birdied the par 4, 398-yard 12th during his final round.
Freshman Pedro Pereira carded two birdies during his final round, the first coming on No. 2 and the other on the par 4, 410-yard fourth. He finished with a three-round 78-80-78—236 to finish at 20-over. Senior JR Smith played as an individual and carded a three-round 85-79-85—249.
The Aggies return to action on Friday in the Cutter Creek Collegiate hosted by East Carolina University in Snow Hill, NC, March 28-30. ,
