The WKU Men’s Golf team traveled to Franklin, Tenn., putting up a 15th place finish with a 36-over 888 in the Mason Rudolph Championship April 1-3 at the par-71, 7,100 yard Vanderbilt Legends Club. 

“We started the event in decent position,” WKU head coach Chan Metts said in a press release. “We didn’t play great yesterday, but still had ourselves in a position today where we could climb the leaderboard, which is a step in the right direction compared to the past few events. However, we didn’t respond to the pressure or the task at hand today.”

First Round

WKU fifth-year senior Caleb O’Toole led the Hilltoppers in the first round of competition Friday. O’Toole hit three birdies in his last four holes, ending the day with a 1-under 70 and tied for 21st on the leaderboard. 

Junior Luke Fuller tied for 31st on the day, shooting an even-par 71 and stroke 12 pars over his 18 holes. Sophomore Connery Meyer opened and closed the first round with birdies and finished 1-over 72. Meyer ended the first round tied for 47th on the leaderboard. 

The final scores of the day came from redshirt junior Thomas Hogan, who shot 6-over 77 and finished round one tied for 83rd, and freshman Riley Grindstaff, who shot 11-over 82 and tied for 86th. 

Second Round

The Hilltoppers logged a 6-over 290 score as a team in the second round of action, matching the score they had at the end of round one. 

Grindstaff posted the low score of the day for WKU at even-par 71. He shot 14 pars over the round and improved his first round score by 11 strokes. Hogan shot a 1-over 72, shredding five strokes off of his first round score. 

Meyer and Fuller closed out the second round for the Hilltoppers Saturday, logging a 2-over 73 and a 3-over 74, respectively. The teammates finished the second round tied for 53rd. O’Toole stroked 4-over 76, finishing tied for 58th. WKU finished the second round in 14th place.

Third Round

WKU ended the third and final round in 15th place, shooting 23-over 308 with a 54-hole score of 36-over 888 Sunday at the par-71, 7,100 yard Vanderbilt Legends Club. 

Meyer logged a 4-over 75, the low score of the day for the Hilltoppers. Meyer tied for 55th with a total score of 7-over 220, placing the highest for WKU. Both O’Toole and Thomas posted a 6-over 77, giving O’Toole a tie for 66th place and Hogan a tie for 77th place. 

Fuller tied for 69th in the competition with a final round of 8-over 79 while Grindstaff ended the final round of competition with an 11-over 82, finishing in 85th. 

“Sometimes there aren’t answers other than it was just a bad day for the team,” Metts said. “We will regroup and be ready to head to Houston next week. We need to show some toughness and bounce back from today’s round moving forward.”

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