Seattle wins WAC Championship
WAC champion Seattle Redhawks
(Seattle Athletics Photo)
MESA, AZ (April 30, 2017) - With four players in the top-20 Seattle has won the WAC Championship by four shots. Playing at Longbow Golf Club the Redhawks finished 15-over and in front of defending champion UMKC. With the title Seattle has earned themselves the conferences automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
UMKC was the runner-up at 19-over, New Mexico State placed third at 27-over, in fourth it was 31-over Utah Valley while Longbow Golf Club took fifth at 37-over.
"I cannot put into words how much this means to our team," said Seattle head coach Marc Chandonnet. "All of our early-morning workouts, the days we grind through the cold rain to qualify have finally paid off. I'm so appreciative of the buy-in to our system."
The low Redhawk for the tournament was Kyle Cornett who finished 1-under and in second place. During the final round Cornett shot an even-par 72 as he birdied the 15th and 18th holes to rebound from a double-bogey, bogey start to the closing nine.
Zack Overstreet fired the Seattle round of the day with a closing 5-under 66 to finish even-par and in third place. Overstreet bogeyed his opening hole on Sunday before playing flawless golf the rest of the way. The birdies for Overstreet came on Nos. 4, 5, 17 and 18, with an eagle coming on the par-3 15th.
Also in the top-20 for Seattle were Ross Kukula (T11; +7) and Patrick Sato (T18; +9).
In the medalist race Vinnie Murphy of Grand Canyon finished 3-under to win the title. Playing as individual Murphy closed with a bogey-free 3-under 68 to emerge from the pack on Sunday. Murphy started his round with an opening hole birdie and then also carded circles on Nos. 10 and 15.
Murphy was one of five Grand Canyon players in the field and playing as individuals due to NCAA transition rules. If the Lopes had been eligible to compete as a team they would have won the WAC title by five shots.
Behind Murphy in the medalist standings came Cornett and Overstreet in second and third, fourth place was taken by McCain Schellhardt (UMKC) at 1-over while Mike McGilton (New Mexico State), Hayden Webb (Grand Canyon) shared fifth at 3-over.
-Seattle athletics contributed to this story