Cress' Career Round Paces Dukes at Irish Creek

Saturday, April 6

The Club at Irish Creek | Kannapolis, N.C.

James Madison University

Irish Creek Collegiate

4/7/2019 8:59:00 PM | Men's Golf

@JMUMGolf JMU MG on Instagram Final Results

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - Junior Walker Cress fired a career low in his final round of the weekend to earn the first top-five finish of his JMU tenure as the James Madison men's golf team closed out play at the Irish Creek Intercollegiate, hosted by Davidson at the par-71, 7,099-yard Club at Irish Creek.

After bogeying his first hole of the day, Cress racked up five birdies across his next 17, carding a career-best 4-under 67, the second-lowest final round of any competitor in the 96-player field. The performance boosted Cress seven spots on the leaderboard, pushing him into a tie for fourth at 5-under 208, the best 54-hole performance of his career.

As a team, the Dukes continued to improve, posting their best round of the weekend with a 4-under 280 that cemented their hold on sole possession of eighth place, just three strokes outside the top five in a tightly-packed 16-team field.

Freshman Ignacio De Pineda climbed the leaderboard with his best round of the weekend, carding a 1-under 70 in Sunday's final round to move into a tie for 55th, while senior Ben Tucker posted his third straight round of even-par 71 to close the weekend in a tie for 22nd.

Sophomore Ignacio Montero closed out the JMU scoring with a 1-over 72 that put him in a tie for 14th, while junior Quinn Tardif carded a 4-over 75, tying for 79th on the weekend.

Playing as individuals, freshmen George Heath (t-28) and Nick Schlickenrieder (t-42) closed their final regular-season tournaments with rounds of 73 (+2) and 74 (+3), respectively.

QUOTING COACH FORBES
"We had a bit of an up-and-down final day, but I'm happy with the way we finished. We still have some work to do as we make final steps towards the conference tournament, but we're going to get home and get back to work."

UP NEXT
The Dukes have closed out their regular season competition and will travel to historic Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C. to compete in the 2019 Colonial Athletic Association Championships on the Pinehurst No. 8 course on April 19-21. JMU has finished among the top four teams at the event for four consecutive years.