BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The members of WKU Hilltopper Golf representing the program this week at the Conference USA Championship know that precision will be key.
"The course is not easy," junior Stuart Easton said. "It's demanding for your second shot, and it's tricky if you miss the greens in some bad shots. We've been making sure to work on our iron play and as always keep our short game sharp. Chipping and putting around the greens is so important for this golf course."
Easton and the rest of the Hilltoppers will take on the C-USA field this week at the par-72, 6,969-yard Texarkana Country Club in Texarkana, Ark.
The tournament begins at 8 a.m. CT Sunday with the first of three days of stroke play. The final four teams advance to match play on Wednesday to determine the team champion.
The winning team earns the league's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Men's Golf Championship Regionals.
"We have some very good teams in our conference, but we are a very good team as well," WKU head coach Phillip Hatchett said. "Our aim is to relax and let all our hard work pay off on the course. When we simply play our game, I believe we can compete with anyone in the conference. Our first goal is to make the four-team match play, then take it one match at a time. We are poised to play some really good golf and we look forward to the opportunity and challenge."
WKU finished 10th as a team in last year's C-USA Championship at Texarkana, led by now-redshirt junior Billy Tom Sargent.
Sargent tied for 12th in the 2017 tournament, which was the highest individual conference finish by a Hilltopper since 2010. His three-round total of 221 was WKU's best individual conference score since 2014, and he led the tournament with 40 total pars.
Sargent has finished in the top 20 on seven occasions this season, including five top-10s, three top-fives and one victory. Easton also has three top-five results.
Easton and Sargent will be joined in competition this week by redshirt sophomore Linus Lo, sophomore Tom Bevington and freshman Crimson Callahan.
"I think we all feel pretty good going into the tournament," Sargent said. "We're playing good. We did a lot of hard practice working on our short game, putting – all the things we need for Texarkana. Texarkana isn't too long a course. It's a positioning course off the tee. The greens are a little difficult, so we have to make sure we leave ourselves on the right side of the pins and don't miss on the wrong side of the greens. We've got three rounds to get in that top four for match play, and I think if we can get to match play, anything can happen."
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