It was a tale of two tournaments for the SIU men’s and women’s golf teams Tuesday.

While the men’s team finished in a fourth place tie at the CSU-Telich Sun Life Financial Insurance Invitational in Avon, Ohio, the women’s team finished a disappointing 16th place at the Johnie Imes Invitational in Columbia, Mo.

“We didn’t perform up to our expectations,” said women’s coach Diane Daugherty. “We didn’t have the best outing. Overall we know we can score better than we did. We were disappointed.”

The women’s team was defeated by Missouri Valley Conference rivals including Missouri State and Bradley. Missouri State finished in 11th, shooting 80-over par, while Bradley finished in 12th place with a score of 91-over par.

“Two out of three rounds we were right there with Bradley,” Daugherty said. “It’s not like they were a better team than we are. Missouri State’s playing really well. They had three solid rounds. Once we start playing as well as we should, we will compete with them and possibly come out on top.”

Senior Lauren May led the women’s team and shot 17-over par and finished in 27th place while freshman Alisha Matthews shot 20-over par for 36th place.

Senior Kate Laegeler tied for 74th by shooting 24 over, while senior Braidy Hood (78th place, 39-over par) and sophomore Alex Anderson (85th place, 43-over par) rounded out SIU’s results.

The women’s team will continue its season Oct. 20 and 21 at the Missouri Valley Conference Preview in Panora, Iowa.

The men’s squad, meanwhile, struggled in the last round and wound up finishing in fourth place.

Senior Todd Obergoenner represented SIU’s best golfer and finished in sixth place with a 3-over par scorecard. It was Obergoenner’s third top-10 finish in as many tournaments.

Junior Blake Driskell led the Salukis in the final round with a 2-over-par 74 and tied for 28th while seniors Phillip Collier and John Danielson tied for 14th and 18th, respectively, and freshman Luke Daily tied for 48th (231).

Head coach Leroy Newton said poor weather conditions led to a bad showing for the Salukis.

“It rained like crazy, and we shot ourselves in the foot,” Newton said. “Everyone had to deal with it, but the bottom line is that we didn’t play our best today.

“The grass was soggy, and every shot was like hitting out of a water-hazard,” Newton said. “We still managed to finish in the top five though, and one shot here or there could have put us in the top three.”

The men’s team will continue its season Oct. 12 when it travels to Normal, to compete in the Illinois State Invitational.

Stile Smith can be reached at

536-3311 ext. 282 or [email protected]