Oct. 25, 2005
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ---- The Samford University men's and women's golf ended competition at the F&M Bank Intercollegiate, hosted by Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay. Both teams battled difficult conditions to finish competitively, with the men in sixth place and the women in eighth place.
The men pushed ahead one spot following a strong third-round performance to finish sixth overall. The Bulldogs shot a two-under-par 286 in the final round, to finish with a total score of 879. Southern Illinois won the tournament with a total score of 854, after shooting a 288 for par in the final round.
"We had a better round today," said Samford men's head coach Woodie Eubanks. "Ryan Mayberry shot a great round. We have a lot of work to do get ready for the spring, and we have one more tournament this fall. We're just going to continue to work to get ready for our last fall tournament. Overall, I was really pleased with how we did today; we shot very well as a team."
Mayberry shot a tournament-low 65 on the par-72 Links at Novadell in the final round of play to move into the top 20. The score, which was seven strokes under par, was the best in the entire tournament. Mayberry finished the tournament tied for 17th place with a combined score of 218, as did teammate Bradley Pate. Pate continued his solid play in the tournament, shooting a 73 in the third round. Austin Peay's Grant Leaver and Western Illinois's Tim Streng each shot a combined score of 208 in the tournament, but Leaver won the playoff to take the individual crown.
The Samford women shot a combined 340 in the second round of the 36-hole tournament at the par-71 Clarksville Country Club to end up with a combined score of 674. The Bulldogs ended the tournament in eighth place overall. Butler won the 17-team tournament, shooting a combined score of 631. Several OVC schools competed in the tournament. Eastern Kentucky was the top OVC finisher, with a fourth place effort. Murray State finished fifth, Tennessee Tech finished seventh, Eastern Illinois finished 10th, Austin Peay placed 11th and Tennessee State rounded out the field in 17th.
"We were very close to moving up today," said Samford head women's coach Ian Thompson. "This was more competitive than we've been in a while, especially against conference schools. Kelly Stout had a solid tournament and Maria had a very good round today. We played in some very difficult conditions in this tournament, because there were fast greens and miserable weather. Now we've got to take some time and get ready for our final tournament of the fall season."
Stout was the top finisher for the Bulldogs, shooting a combined score of 161 to finish in a tie for 11th. Stout shot an 83 in the final round of competition on Tuesday. Maria Troche shot the best round on the day for the Bulldogs, with an 81, giving her a combined score of 166, to finish in a tie for 22nd. Belmont's Audra Williams captured the individual title with a combined score of 151.
Both the men's and women's teams will take some time off before heading to their final tournament of the fall season. The women will compete on Monday, Oct. 31, and Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Troy University Women's tournament. The men's team will also compete at Troy in their final tournament of the year on November 7 and 8.
