The 20th ranked Barton Community College men's golf team opened their 2021 season with a victory, leading both rounds of the Ottawa Invitational held at Lawrence's Eagle Bend Golf Course.

The Cougars carded an opening round of 315 for a two stroke lead before distancing themselves from the field in the final round by shooting an even better 303 as course conditions worsened with extreme high winds. Park University's 57-over 633 placed runner-up with Metropolitan Community College's 65-over 641 grabbed the third spot of the eight team standings.

Carlos Conceicao won the tournament by four strokes in leading four Cougars in the top ten of forty-nine man field. Conceicao was tied for second following an opening 75 but shot an incredible 2-under in the conditions in breaking away for a 1-over 145 winning score.

Peeranat Suporn also moved up in the final round, following a 79 with a 77 to place third at 12-over 156.

Making the largest jump on the leaderboard, Tom Gehring shaved seven strokes off his Cougar debut 82 in firing the day's fourth best 75 score to jump nine spots into a 4th place tie at 13-over 157.

Tying for the 10th spot, Pontus Nordstrom posted 79 and 81 rounds for a 16-over 160.

Barton begins conference action at 9:00 a.m. Monday, March 29, in two days of competition held at Manhattan's Colbert Hills Golf Course.

Barton Individual Results: Par 72
1: Carlos Conceicao +1 145 (75-70)
3: Peeranat Suporn +12 156 (79-77)
T4: Tom Gehring +13 157 (82-75)
T10: Pontus Nordstrom +16 160 (79-81)
28: Antoine Martinot +29 173 (88-85)
43: Gavin Tuttle +44 188 (98-90)

Team Standings:
1: Barton CC +42 618 (315-303)
2: Park University +57 633 (326-307)
3: Metropolitan CC +65 641 (317-324)
4: Southwestern CC +87 663 (331-332)
T5: Ottawa University +99 675 (332-343) and Fort Scott CC +99 675 (340-335)
7: York College +108 684 (344-340)
8: Sterling College (B) +173 749 (368-381)