DULUTH, Ga. – WKU Men's Golf had three Hilltoppers fire rounds of even-par or better in the final day of the Georgia State Invitational. Redshirt junior Thomas Hogan, freshman Stephen Warren and freshman Riley Grindstaff led the squad in a final-round rally to shoot even-par 288 as a team.
"This was a frustrating week," said head coach Chan Metts. "Today we started bad then fought back, but we didn't quite close it out. The bottom line is we must be better. We need to be able to put together a few under par rounds as a team here with as wet as this course was. It won't get any more scoreable to me than this was."
Warren fired a 2-under 70 to pace the Hilltoppers on Tuesday at the par-72, 6,706-yard Berkely Hills Country Club. He rose six spots on the leaderboard with a total of 3-over 219 for the event.
Fellow freshman Grindstaff also turned in a low score for the Tops at 1-under 71. He tied for 41st on the individual leaderboard.
Hogan logged the best overall performance of the event for WKU, shooting even-par 72 on Tuesday to tie for 27th overall. It is his first time as WKU's top finisher in an event at 1-over 217.
Junior Luke Fuller recorded the Hilltoppers' final counting score of the day at 3-over 75. He tied for 32nd at 2-over 218.
Freshman Elliott Pope turned in his best collegiate score thus far at 1-under 71, tying for 55th after playing in the Invitational as an individual. Sophomore Connery Meyer carded a 9-over 81.
"We will get right back to grinding hard for a few days and then have a quick turnaround next week," added Metts. "It may not feel like it at the moment, but we are taking baby steps in the right direction, it's just a slow process sometimes. I'm proud of the fight these guys show and I'm excited about the future."
WKU has a tight turnaround with the Pinetree Intercollegiate beginning on Monday.
Results – Final Round
T27. Thomas Hogan – 71, 74, 72 – 217
T32. Luke Fuller – 71, 72, 75 – 218
T36. Stephen Warren – 74, 75, 70 – 219
T41. Riley Grindstaff – 76, 73, 71 – 220
T55. Elliott Pope* – 75, 78, 71 – 224
83. Connery Meyer – 79, 76, 81 – 236
*competing as an individual
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