MOBILE, Ala. – A day after carding a four-under par 68, freshman Barend Botha fired a five-under 67 on Tuesday to lead Toledo to a sixth-place showing at South Alabama's Mobile Bay Intercollegiate. The tournament featured several nationally ranked programs and was held at the par-72, 7,212-yard Magnolia Grove Crossings Golf Course.
 
Toledo finished the 54-hole event at eight-under par 856 (290-285-281) and improved its score each round.

"Barend played beautifully again," Head Coach Jeff Roope said. "He had a chance to shoot a 63 or 64 as he was that in tune with his game. It was a big-time effort from the rest of the team as well. They saw the rabbit take off again in Barend and instead of letting him carry the burden they fought to chase him down to contribute to a solid team score."
 
Botha, who tied for seventh place with a career-low six-under par 210 (75-68-67), opened his day on Hole No. 6 and birdied five of six holes starting at No. 11 to get to five-under. He then eagled the par-four, 540-yard No. 4 hole before double-bogeying his final hole of the day.
 
Sophomore NJ Botha finished two shots behind his younger brother with a four-under par 210 good for a 14^th-place tie. Sophomore Palmer Yenrick tied for 27^th place with an even-par 216 after posting a two-under 70 for Toledo's second-best round today.
 
Rounding out the Rocket lineup were senior Nate Thomson (T-44^th/74-72-74) and junior Muhammed Afif Mohd Fathi (T-53^rd/76-74-73).
 
Illinois captured the tournament title with an impressive 37-under par 827 with the Fighting Illini's Michael Feagles earning medalist honors at 16-under par 200 (67-67-66).
 
Toledo is back in action on Friday-Sunday, March 12-14 with a trip to Greensboro, Ga. for the Linger Longer Invitational.
 
TEAM STANDINGS
1. Illinois 274-276-277=827 (-37); 2. Indiana 283-282-279=844 (-20); 3. Kent State 279-282-287=848 (-16); 4. Louisville 280-285-285=850 (-14); 5. UAB 282-282-288=852 (-12); 6. Toledo 290-285-281=856 (-8); 7. Kansas State 287-284-290=861 (-3); 8. South Alabama 295-285-282=862 (-2); 9. Davidson 289-282-300=571 (+7); 10. Western Kentucky 295-294-292=881 (+17); 11. Lipscomb 296-296-292=884 (+20); 12. Illinois State 300-294-295=889 (+25); 13. Southern Mississippi 295-303-292=890 (+26); 14. South Alabama B 297-309-291=897 (+33); 15. Michigan 311-300-296=907 (+43)

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
1. Michael Feagles (Illinois) 67-67-66=200 (-16); 2. Jerry Ji (Illinois) 71-70-67=208 (-8); T3. Tommy Kuhl (Illinois) 70-69-70=209 (-7); T3. Matthias Schmid (Louisville) 68-71-70=209 (-7); T3. Yannick Schuetz (S. Alabama) 67-71-71=209 (-7); T3. Clay Merchant (Indiana) 71-69-69=209 (-7)

TOLEDO INDIVIDUALS
T7. Barend Botha 75-68-67=210 (-6); T14. NJ Botha 70-71-71=212 (-4); T27. Palmer Yenrick 71-75-71=217 (+1); T44. Nate Thomson 74-72-74=220 (+4); T53. Muhammed Afif Mohd Fathi 76-74-73=223 (+7)