LELAND, N.C. - WKU fired a final-round 289, its best round of the tournament, on the final day of the Cape Fear National Intercollegiate on Monday afternoon to claim third place overall. Trey Aguirre led WKU's card with a three-over 219 to finish tied for 11th individually.
The Hilltoppers' 289 was the team's fourth-lowest round of the 2015-16 year thus far and was just one stroke off the low round of the day as Appalachian State and Florida Gulf Coast had matching scores of 288 on Monday. WKU finished the tournament with a three-round score of 896, 32 strokes over par (296-311-289).
Duke, ranked 20th in the latest Golfstat rankings, took home the team trophy at seven-under 857, while UNCW placed second at seven-over 871.
Aguirre maintained his spot atop the Hilltoppers' card with a one-over 73 on Monday, finishing the tournament as one of only eight players to finish the par-3 holes under par over the three rounds. The Navarre, Fla., native tied with Florida Gulf Coast's Jake Sherwin for 11th overall on the leaderboard.
Stuart Easton jumped up the leaderboard on Monday with an even-par 72 in his final round, matching Jacob Dehne of North Dakota for 17th overall. Easton tied for the lead among all golfers by playing the par-3 holes at two-under par for the tournament and led the Hilltoppers with 37 pars over the two-day event.
Billy Tom Sargent also made a move up, posting a two-over 74 in the third round to finish in a four-way tie for 25th place. Sargent led WKU with 10 birdies across his three rounds, nearly a quarter of the team's total of 41 in the category. The Hilltoppers trailed only Duke (55) and UNCW (47) in birdies for the tournament.
Austin King made the second-biggest leap in the entire field during Monday's final round, firing WKU's low round of the event with a two-under 70 to jump 25 spots on the leaderboard, tying for 38th place. King went five-under on the par-5 holes, tied for the fourth-best mark in the field, to lead the Hilltoppers.
Rounding out the card was Blake Smith, who moved up five spots to take sole possession of 46th overall with a final-round 75. Competing as an individual for WKU, Nick Thompson closed out his tournament with a 79 to tie for 38th alongside King.
The Hilltoppers will return to action next Monday and Tuesday at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate hosted by Tennessee Tech at The Sevierville Golf Club in Sevierville, Tenn., one of just three more tournaments before WKU heads to the Conference USA Championships in late April.
WKU Final Results
T11. Trey Aguirre (+3, 219, 74-72-73)
T17. Stuart Easton (+7, 223, 73-78-72)
T25. Billy Tom Sargent (+11, 227, 75-78-74)
T38. Austin King (+14, 230, 77-83-70)
46. Blake Smith (+16, 232, 74-83-75)
T38. Nick Thompson (+14, 230, 75-76-79) - Indiv.
