WKU Men’s Golf freshman Riley Grindstaff finished the Pinetree Intercollegiate in Kennesaw, Georgia, on Tuesday with a 1-under 71 to tie for sixth place out of 66 total competitors, the best finish by a Hilltopper golfer this season. 

“I’m very proud of Riley for picking up a top 10 and for the way he responded to his finish yesterday,” head coach Chan Metts said in a press release. 

“It was a ton of fun,” Grindstaff said. “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.”

Grindstaff finished the competition with two birdies and six pars at the par-72 course. 

Junior Luke Fuller recorded the second-lowest score of the day for the Hiltoppers with a 2-over 74. Freshman Stephen Warren also placed within the top 25 with a score of 5-over 77, tying for 23rd overall. Sophomore Connery Meyer ended the day at 7-over 79 while redshirt junior Thomas Hogan earned a score of 8-over 80. 

Freshman Elliot Pope, who competed in the event as an individual, logged a 3-over 75 in the final round, his best score of the tournament. 

WKU finished eighth overall after logging a 13-over 301 as a unit in the final round of competition. 

“I’m pretty tired of saying this, but we are just struggling to close out a tournament,” Metts said. “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,” Grindstaff said. “I’ve worked hard all of my life to do what I did this week, but now we’re on to next week.”

WKU Men’s Golf will compete in the Battle at Black Creek event hosted by Chattanooga on Oct. 25- 26 to finish out its fall schedule.

Sports reporter Piper McCoun can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @piper_mccoun.