LAKEWOOD, Wash. – The Linfield men's golf team turned in its best finish so far this season at the Logger Invitational, placing second of nine teams at the Oakbrook Golf Club.
 
The Wildcats sent two teams to the tournament. The Linfield "B" team consisting of Chris Cayford, Bryce Hatcher, Jacob Smissen, Ryo Kobayashi and Grant Moen posted a first-round score of 305 to enter Sunday tied for first place with Pacific Lutheran. The team improved by two strokes in Round 2 with a 303 to finish with a final score of 608, three strokes back of Whitman (605) for the tournament title.
 
The other Linfield squad had a solid outing on Saturday, finishing the round in third place at 306. But the Wildcats fell to the No. 5 spot on the team leaderboard to finish the weekend at 624. The group included Zack LaPlaca, Riley Lynch, Ahron Abraham, Trevor Price and Alex Salinas.
 
Cayford moved up four spots on the leaderboard to spearhead Linfield in a tie for fifth place with Whitman's Tom Hoyne. His team-leading score of 146 (+4) included a 75 in Round 1 and a 71 in Round 2 on the par-71 course. It was the junior's best finish of the season.
 
Smissen turned in his second career top-10 finish, coming in one stroke behind Cayford at 147 (+5) to finish tied for seventh place with Ryan Knox of Bellevue College. The freshman also tied for seventh at October's Northwest Conference Fall Classic at the Creekside Golf Club in Salem. Hatcher tied for 26^th at 159 while Moen (161) rounded out the Linfield "B" team's scorers in a tie for 29th. Kobayashi was 39^th at 165.
 
The top finisher for Linfield's other team was Lynch, who paced the Wildcats in a three-way tie for 15^th place with a score of 155. Price was a stroke behind at 156 to tie for 18^th place, and LaPlaca was part of a foursome that tied for 22^nd at 158.
 
Jorgen Viken competed as an individual for Lewis-Clark State and took home medalist honors for the Warriors. He entered Sunday in third place but went off for a 66 (-5) in the second round to finish at 138 (-4) on the weekend, two strokes ahead of Bellevue's Dalton Dean. George Fox's Brenden Borck was the NWC's top performer in third place at an even 142.

NEXT
Up next for Linfield is the NWC Spring Classic, hosted by Whitworth on April 1-2 at the Links Golf Club in Post Falls, Idaho.