KENNESAW, Ga. – WKU Men's Golf freshman Riley Grindstaff tied for sixth in the field of 66 at the Pinetree Intercollegiate, his fourth-ever collegiate golf tournament. He posted a final-round, 1-under 71 to finish under par for the event and clinch the best finish by a Hilltopper so far this season.
"I'm very proud of Riley for picking up a top 10 and for the way he responded to his finish yesterday," said head coach Chan Metts. "Stephen also had a great showing to get his first top 25 finish on a tough course."
"It was a ton of fun," said Grindstaff on the event. "I went into the week not knowing what to expect other than knowing I would have to drive the ball well. I hit it pretty solid and played to my strengths. I took advantage of the holes that I put myself in position to make birdies and got some putts to drop."
The Franklin, Ky., native ended his Tuesday round with two birdies and six pars at the par-72, 7,108-yard Pinetree Country Club. Grindstaff ultimately tied for sixth, just five shots back from the individual champion.
Junior Luke Fuller had the second-lowest score of the day for WKU at 2-over 74. As Metts mentioned, freshman Stephen Warren recorded his best finish so far as a Hilltopper at t-23rd. He carded a final-round 5-over 77.
Once again, sophomore Connery Meyer had the Tops' final counting score of the day at 7-over 79. He tied for 56th on the leaderboard while redshirt senior Thomas Hogan posted an 8-over 80.
Competing as an individual, freshman Elliott Pope logged his best score of the tournament in the final round at 3-over 75.
WKU finished eighth as a team after posting a 13-over 301 in the final round of the Intercollegiate.
"I'm pretty tired of saying this, but we are just struggling to close out a tournament," added Metts on the team performance. "This is two weeks in a row where we put ourselves in position to move up the leaderboard on the last day and we have failed to do so. We were in position to look for a top-five finish today, but we had a train wreck of a start, and the wheels just sort of fell off. But this team showed a lot of fight to play the back nine near even par to try and salvage a little bit today. I'm ready to have another crack at it next week at Black Creek in Chattanooga."
"It's weird to think about how fast college golf has already flown by, but to get a top-10 finish in my fourth event as a Hilltopper was a goal I set at the beginning of this season," said Grindstaff of his achievement. "I've worked hard all of my life to do what I did this week, but now we're on to next week."
Results – Final
T6. Riley Grindstaff – 70, 74, 71 – 215
T23. Stephen Warren – 72, 72, 77 – 221
T28. Luke Fuller – 77, 72, 74 – 223
T51. Elliott Pope* – 79, 78, 75 – 232
T56. Connery Meyer – 78, 79, 79 – 236
60. Thomas Hogan – 80, 79, 80 – 239
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