Sophomore Garrett Wood captured the men’s golf individual Big East championship this past weekend, following in the footsteps of Mikayla Fitzpatrick, who won the women’s individual championship the weekend before.
Wood and Fitzpatrick are the first duo to secure championships in five years, when St. John’s won both.
Wood shot a 75 in the opening round, three over par, but rebounded with an even 72 in the second round to move into a tie for fifth place heading into the final day.
He shot better than par on the final to claim the championship. Wood is the 12th individual conference winner in Xavier history.
Sophomore Imaad Qureshi finished 21st overall, but led Xavier with 34 total birdies. The score allowed him to tie for third place at the Big East Tournament. Sophomore Martin Jaramillo also finished in the top 25, placing 24th, while freshman Nick Frey tied for 36th.
As a whole, the team shot 316 (+28) on the first day, which had them in eighth place going into the second day. They sat 18 strokes behind the leaders, Creighton, as the Blue Jays shot 298 (+10) on the first day.
Xavier rebounded to shoot the second best score on the second day, shooting just 293 (+5) to put them at 609 (+33) heading into the final day. They trailed leaders Marquette (+15) by 18 strokes.
That was as close as Xavier would get, however. The Musketeers shot a 303 (+15) in the final round of the tournament to finish with a score of 912 (+48), which got them seventh place overall. Marquette captured the team title with an 872 (+8).
Wood will participate in one of the six NCAA Regionals as a result of his title, which take place from May 13-15. The possible sites at which Wood could participate are: Louisville, Ky., Pullman, Wash., Stanford, Calif., Athens, Ga., Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Austin, Texas. His placement will be revealed on Wednesday.

By. Donnie Menke | Staff Writer