KENNESAW, Ga. – WKU Men's Golf tied for second as a team at Kennesaw State's Pinetree Intercollegiate while sophomore Riley Grindstaff placed third individually. It's the best team finish since spring of 2017 where the squad tied for second at the East Carolina Intercollegiate. Grindstaff's finish is the best by any Hilltopper since the fall of 2019 when Linus Lo won UAB's Graeme McDowell Invitational.
"All in all, I'm very happy with what I saw this week," said head coach Chan Metts. "We've been coming here for five years now and we've had some pretty good teams in the past and this is our highest finish at the Pinetree so I definitely don't think you can discount that. Riley and Landon played really well this week and I'm really excited for Riley's finish and what that means for him moving forward."
As course conditions were incredibly tough on Tuesday, the average score in the third round was 79.1 shots.
Grindstaff's finish was the best of his career as he tied his career-low, 54-hole score at 1-under 215 at the par-72, 7,108-yard Pinetree Country Club. He birdied his final hole to post a 2-under 70 for the final round of action.
"I think this really shows who we are as a team, to keep fighting the way we did today in tough conditions," said Grindstaff. "It was awesome to make some big putts coming down the stretch that kept us in contention at the top of the leaderboard. But it's a new feeling being near the top as a team so all we can do now is build on it heading into our match against UT Martin on Monday and then into next semester as well."
Adding to the top-10 finishes was fifth-year senior Landon Carner. He tied for eighth at 4-over 220 for the tournament as he carded a 4-over 76 on Tuesday.
WKU rounded out scoring on the final day of the Intercollegiate with a pair of 7-over 79's. Both redshirt sophomore Nic Hofman and junior Connery Meyer turned in those scores. Hofman tied for 20th while Meyer tied for 45th overall.
The Hilltoppers' senior captain Luke Fuller tied for 30th, finishing out the Intercollegiate with a 9-over 81.
"The biggest takeaway from this week is winning in golf is hard," added Metts. "In most other sports, you're playing one other team. In golf, we're playing anywhere from 11 to 17 teams and only one gets to walk away with a trophy so winning is really difficult. In that regard, it is a learned skill and the only way to learn how to do that is to put yourself in position to win a golf tournament. I'm really excited that we did that today."
WKU will finish out the fall season at Paducah Country Club on Monday with a neutral-site, match-play event against UT Martin.
Results – Final
3. Riley Grindstaff – 72, 73, 70 – 215
T8. Landon Carner – 75, 69, 76 – 220
T20. Nic Hofman – 76, 70, 79 – 225
T30. Luke Fuller – 72, 77, 81 – 230
T45. Connery Meyer – 76, 81, 79 – 236
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