Pettersson Wins ODU/Seascape Collegiate

Freshman Tobias Pettersson won his first collegiate tournament at ODU's Seascape Collegiate.

Liberty's Tobias Pettersson (69-71, 140) finished even par on Tuesday, tying for medalist honors at Old Dominion's Seascape Collegiate, at the par-70, 6,131-yard Seascape Golf Club in Kitty Hawk, N.C. Pettersson tied with Jim Bea (68-72, 140) of St. Joseph's, but was awarded the first-place trophy when St. Joseph's had to leave early, eliminating the chance of a playoff.

Liberty (603) tied for sixth place out of 15 teams, 24 strokes behind tournament champion and host Old Dominion. Chris Watters (72-80, 152) tied for 38th, while Sang Chun (79-76, 155) shared the 45th spot. Preston Dembowiak (77-79, 156) finished 16 strokes over, while Nathan Schenz-Davis (79-85, 164) rounded out the Liberty five at 24 over par.

Host Old Dominion took the tournament championship, finishing seven strokes better than Campbell (586), who had entered the day with a narrow team lead. James Madison (589) rounded out the top three, 10 strokes behind the tournament champion Monarchs. Big South foe Radford (603) tied for sixth with the Flames.

Zak Drescher (70-72, 142) finished behind Pettersson and Bea to take third place at two over, two strokes behind the medalists. Fielding Brewbaker (72-71, 143) of James Madison and Tom Wilde (70-73, 143) of Old Dominion tied for fourth place at three over par.

Pettersson, a freshman from Kalmar, Sweden, won his first collegiate tournament in what served as his fourth collegiate event. In his second collegiate tournament, Pettersson tied for 13th at the prestigious Windon Memorial Classic hosted by Northwestern, earning the Swedish national Choice Hotels Big South Golfer of the Week honors on Oct. 10.

This tournament concludes Liberty's fall season. The Flames return to the links on Feb. 15, when they take part in the 2009 Rice Intercollegiate, played at the Westwood Golf Club in Houston, Texas.