If Nick Shapiro's performance in his first Great American Conference tournament is any indication, the future of Henderson State's men's golf program is in good hands.
The freshman from Plano, Texas, earned medalist honors as the Reddies won the team championship for the fourth consecutive year Tuesday at Hot Springs Country Club. Shapiro and senior teammates Drew Greenwood and Price Murphree earned all-tournament honors, helping the Reddies held off first-round leader Arkansas Tech on the Arlington course.
Shapiro's teammates carried him off the green after he holed a 12-foot eagle putt on the 520-yard, par-5 18th hole. That got him to 2-under 70 for the round and 7-under 209 for 54 holes on the 6,713-yard Arlington. Shapiro improved his first-round score by nine strokes with a tournament-low 65 Monday.
Winning by four strokes after a final-round 289, Henderson finished at 6-under 858. Arkansas Tech had the best final round, 285, for a 33-stroke advantage over third place Southwestern Oklahoma (895). Arkansas Tech had four top-10 finishers, including runner-up Austin Smith at 71_211 and Luke Cornett third at 71_213.
Harding placed fourth at 897, followed by Southern Arkansas (900), Southern Nazarene (902), Arkansas-Monticello (908), Southeastern Oklahoma (918) and Northwestern Oklahoma (963).
Arkansas Tech, down by eight strokes after the second round, pulled within two strokes after nine holes Tuesday. Murphree then birdied three of the final five holes and Greenwood, a senior from Hot Springs who played at Lakeside High, birdied the 18th.
Murphree finished fourth at 71_214 and Greenwood, the 2015 GAC medalist, tied for fifth at 73_216.
Completing the top five for Henderson were Hot Springs (Lakeside) sophomore Cameron McRae, tying for 22nd at 75_226, and Tait Darby, tying for 24th at 72_227.
Henderson makes its fifth consecutive NCAA postseason appearance in the NCAA Midwest/Central Regional May 8-10 at Awarii Dune Golf Club in Nebraska.
- Arkansas Tech won its third consecutive GAC women's golf championship by four strokes over Henderson.
The Golden Suns bettered the Reddies in the final round by two strokes with a 310 and finished at 917 on the par-72 HSCC Park course. Senior Caroline Fredensborg's closing 72 saved the victory when no other Tech player was closer than five strokes. She finished at 5-over 221, sophomore teammate Pia Nunbhakdi placing fourth at 228.
None of Henderson's five players broke 78 Tuesday, Sarah Wright finishing second at 227 and Taylor Loeb tying for fifth at 230. The Reddies finished five strokes ahead of Southwestern Oklahoma, which was led by medalist Elin Wahlin's 74_218 including a tournament-low 70 in the second round.
Arkansas-Monticello placed fourth at 980, Southern Arkansas and Northwestern Oklahoma tying for fifth at 995.
Sports on 04/26/2017