WKU Women’s Golf finishes third in First Coast Classic, Men’s Golf wraps up Mobile Bay Intercollegiate

Wyatt Richardson/WKU Athletics

Freshman Riley Grindstaff of the WKU Hilltoppers men’s golf team plays a qualifying round at Bowling Green Country Club on Sept. 17, 2021.

Izzy Lanuza, Sports Reporter

WKU’s Mens’ and Womens’ Golf teams played the final rounds in their respective tournaments Tuesday afternoon. 

The women played in the First Coast Classic in Jacksonville, Fla., while the men played in the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate in Mobile, Ala.

Womens

The Lady Toppers placed third overall, shooting 32-over 320 on the final 18 holes. Sophomore Rachel Rich and fifth-year senior Olivia Reed tied for fifth place on the individual leaderboard. 

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Rich shot a 4-over 76, finishing her round with six pars and a birdie. Reed finished with an 11-over 83. Junior Sarah Arnold shot an 8-over 80 while freshman Faith Martin finished the tournament with a 9-over 81. 

On the individual leaderboard, senior Kenlie Barrett tied for 24th with an 11-over 83, and Martin tied for 43rd with an 81. 

WKU will return to Jacksonville, Fla., in three weeks to compete in the UNF Collegiate March 7-8. 

Mens

The Hilltoppers were able to improve their score after finishing the second and final round, placing 13th overall. WKU shot a 9-over 297 in the second round and a 7-over 295 in the final round. 

“We have to be able to get off to a better start,” WKU head coach Chan Metts said in a press release. “We just dug too deep of a hole in the first round. There were some positives from the second and last rounds in that we played 14-15 really solid holes but could not close out those rounds. I am glad to see our best round came when the course was playing at its hardest. All in all, everyone had positives to take away as well as what we need to work on before Auburn. I’m already looking forward to practice tomorrow.”

Sophomore Connery Meyer tied for 51st on the individual leaderboard with a second round score of even-par 72 and a final round score of 1-over 73.

Freshman Riley Grindstaff shot the lowest score of the day for WKU, shooting 3-over 75 in the second round and an even-par 72 in the final. He tied for 56th overall after moving up three spots. 

The Hilltoppers counted sophomore Aaron Pha’s second round score of 2-over 74 the best of the season for Pha. WKU also counted junior Luke Fuller and senior Caleb O’Toole’s score of 4-over 76 in the second round. 

The Hilltoppers included scores from Grindstaff, Meyer, Fuller and O’Toole for the final 18 holes. Fuller had the best finish for WKU, tying for 45th place. O’Toole and Pha tied for 66th overall. 

WKU will be back in action in three weeks at the Tiger Invitational hosted by Auburn on March 6-8. 

Sports Reporter Izzy Lanuza can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @izzylanuza