October 9, 2012
San Antonio – It didn’t take St. Mary’s freshman Kirby Gorzell long to reach the top. And now that he has, he’ll undoubtedly want to stay here.
Gorzell, a San Antonio native, climbed the leaderboard in Tuesday’s final round to capture the Ryan Palmer Foundation Invitational individual title, shooting a 1-under-par 70 to erase a five-stroke deficit and claim the first title of his collegiate career.
Gorzell, competing in just his third tournament as a Rattler, shot 209 for the tournament and overtook St. Edward’s Jose Hernandez for the title while also helping the Rattlers claim third place as a team.
Chris Contreras (Jr., San Antonio) finished in a tie for 17th place for the Rattlers after shooting 216, while Alex Bissaro (Fr., San Antonio) shot 216 to tie for 27th place. Matthew Van Winkle (So., Castroville, Texas) shot 221 and Shawn Bennett (Jr., Marion, Texas) shot 222.
Gorzell became the 14th Rattler to win a tournament title.