The No. 1-ranked Oklahoma State men’s golf team lived up to its billing, as did Alabama sophomore Bud Cauley, as they captured the team and individual titles of the 5th annual Linger Longer Invitational at The Landing at Reynolds Plantation.

Cauley, who opened the 54-hole tournament with an electrifying 8-under-par 64, finished just as strong, playing the final five holes 3-under, including a key eagle on the par-5 14th hole, for a 67.  That gave the all-American from Jacksonville, Fla., a total of 204, a career-low for 54 holes and a six-shot victory.

Oklahoma State teammates Kevin Tway, a junior from Edmond, Okla., and Sean Einhaus, a freshman from Germany, were second and third, respectively, at 210 and 214.  Tway also closed with a 67.

“When he is on – and he was at this tournament – he is really hard to beat,” Alabama coach Jay Seawell said of Cauley, who went 3-0-1 last summer in the Walker Cup and in the 2008 U.S. Amateur Championship knocked off Ricky Fowler, who at the time ranked No. 1 in the amateur world rankings.   “He came out and almost put it away on the first day,” Seawell said, “and then, as always, he finished strong.”

Leading by three shots going into the final round, Cauley saw Tway (in the group ahead of him) play the first six holes 6-under to pull within two shots.  Later, again up by three with five holes to play, Cauley’s eagle on the 14th put him back up by five, as he wrapped up his third collegiate win and the second this spring.  Cauley also climbed to No. 2 in the national rankings, behind Georgia’s Russell Henley, who finished tied for 10th.

Like Cauley, the Cowboys led from wire-to-wire, holding off a final-round charge by Alabama to win by only two strokes overall, with a total of 865 (best 4 of 5 scoring).  As the Crimson Tide shot 283, 5-under-par for the final round, Oklahoma State closed with a solid, 2-under-par 286.  Texas A&M placed third at 874, with Georgia Tech and defending champion Georgia tied for fourth at 879.

Co-hosted by Kennesaw State and Mercer University, the Linger Longer Invitational featured six of the nation’s top-25 ranked teams competing over three days on the first golf course built on Georgia’s Lake Oconee.  The Bob Cupp design, a par 72 set up to 7,005 yards for the tournament, played to a scoring average of 76.19 for 54 holes.