ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's golf coach Tom Farren has been saying all along that this year's team has the depth that previous teams have lacked.

And the Cardinals' performance at the St. John's Invitational proved Farren's point.

When Jesse Polk (Hastings, Minn.), who had been the Cardinals' top guy most of the season, ballooned to an 85 during Saturday's opening round, Justin Magill (Lake Elmo, Minn.), Scott Savage (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) were there to pick up the slack, as SMU tallied a 317 total.

Polk was back to his old self on Sunday, carding a seven-over-par 79, but the SMU sophomore was a distant fifth — on his own team — as Nosal rifled a three-over 75, Magill added a 76, Bill Ryan (Western Springs, Ill.) pitched in a 77 and Savage tallied a 78 as SMU posted a second-day 308 for a 625 total.

"It's nice to have that depth," said Farren, whose team, despite their 625 score, had to settle for a ttie for 12th in the 15-team SJU field. "I think it takes a little of the pressure off people like Jesse and Scott — they don't feel like if they don't come in with a really low score, we're going to be in trouble.

"Obviously, we are that much better of a team when those guys give us scores in the low 70s, rather than the high 70s, but still, it's nice to see some of those other guys step up.

"It was an OK weekend for us — nothing too great, but not too bad, either," continued Farren. "This team has set the bar pretty high . Last year, if we would have come in with rounds of 317-308, I would have been pretty happy.

"This year, I'm not disappointed with the score — but I know we can, and will, do better."