McAlpine helps lead men’s golf team to sixth-place finish

CSU men’s golf head coach Jamie Bermel said he believes that

junior Kevin McAlpine is the most talented player he has ever

coached.

McAlpine displayed some of his talents Friday and Saturday as he

tied for eighth place among the 95 players who participated in the

Fresno Lexus Classic in Fresno, Calif.

“Kevin is a very talented player,” Bermel said. “He needs to

continue to mature on the golf course. He still gets easily

frustrated, and that sometimes leads to unforced errors, but his

overall game is improving. I still believe he is the most talented

player I have ever coached.”

McAlpine shot a three-round total of 211, five strokes under

par. In the team standings, CSU finished sixth among the 15 teams

that participated.

Bermel also said he was impressed with the play of freshman

Praneeth Perera, who participated in his first-ever collegiate

tournament at the Fresno Lexus Classic.

“I was pleasantly surprised by Praneeth opening up with a 71 in

his first collegiate round,” Bermel said. “Praneeth played pretty

solid. I like the fact he shot under par in one of his rounds.”

After shooting a one-under par score of 71 in his first round,

Perera shot 75 in each of his final two rounds. Perera’s final

score of 221 earned him a tie for 47th place in the individual

standings.

CSU sophomore Derrick Whiting shot a two-under par score of 214,

earning a tie for 18th place. Junior Nate Pettitt finished tied for

28th with a score of 218; sophomore Aaron Weston finished tied for

65th place with a score of 224 and senior John Hayes finished tied

for 77th place with a score of 226.

The Rams’ sixth-place finish at the Fresno Lexus Classic was an

improvement over the team’s 11th-place finish at the Tucker

Invitational on Oct. 2. However, Bermel said he still expects more

from his team.

“We got off to a pretty good start on Friday morning (during the

first two rounds),” Bermel said. “I was a little disappointed in

the finish, especially the play (during) the last round.”

CSU will next compete in tournament play on Oct. 22-24 when the

team participates in the Nelson Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.

Bermel is hoping that CSU will shoot better as a team at the

tournament.

“We still need to play better and we need better play out of the

veterans. Some of the new guys have really carried the load at

times,” Bermel said. “If the older guys can step up and play

better, we are going to have a pretty good year.”