Not often will the second competition of a season provide a gut check for an athletic team, but that’s exactly what happened yesterday for the Washington State Men’s golf team.

After an up and down first two rounds at the Husky Invitational in Cle Elum on Monday, the Cougars had a challenge in front of them in the final 18 holes at Tumble Hills Golf Course.

While the five golfers may have gotten rocked with an uppercut Monday, they pulled themselves up off the mat in the final round and delivered jabs of their own.

Bouncing back to finish in a tie for seventh (+41, 893) out of 14 teams, WSU threw down with some of the West Coast’s better individual and team golfing talent. Rivals Oregon and Washington left Cle Elum as co-champions (+13, 865).

Highlighting the tournament for the Cougs, three individuals on the team finished in the top 25 in a very competitive field.

Freshmen Aaron Bayley and AJ Armstrong played with poise, finishing in the top 20 and proving that earlier performances were not merely flashes in the pan. Combining for seven of the team’s 15 final round birdies, Whalen finished in a tie for 10th at five-over (218) while Armstrong closed out the tournament at eight-over (221) and in a tie for 16th.

“They’re both great players, so it wasn’t a surprise,” WSU Head Coach Garrett Clegg said in a press release.

After an uncharacteristically poor 36-hole performance on Monday, sophomore Derek Bayley bounced back and hit the ball with the consistency he and his coaches are accustomed to, turning in his second top-25 finish in as many tournaments. Four consecutive birdies on the back nine and an even-par day (71) propeled him back up the leaderboard and into 25th place (+10, 223).

Seniors Bhurinat Songpaiboon and Evan Omelia placed 55th and tied for 56th, respectively. Songpaiboon (+18, 231) finished one stroke ahead of Omelia (+19, 232), who eagled on the 14th hole.

“We’ve just got to clean things up,” Clegg said. “We look to be sharper in our upcoming events.”

The Cougars won’t hit the course again until Sept. 28 when they host the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate at Palouse Ridge Golf Club. It will be the only home tournament of the 2015-16 season for WSU.

Reporting by Braden Johnson