Thomas cracks top five again, leads Tech to sixth place finish
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. – That's two straight weeks of all-tournament honors for Mitch Thomas as the sophomore led the Tennessee Tech men's golf team to a sixth place finish at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate Tuesday afternoon.
By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. – That's two straight weeks of all-tournament honors for Mitch Thomas as the sophomore led the Tennessee Tech men's golf team to a sixth place finish at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate Tuesday afternoon.
Thomas recorded his second consecutive top five finish of the season, tying for fourth overall after a consistent two days of golf at The Links at Novadell in Hopkinsville, Ky. He carded a 71-69-71=211 on the par-72, 7,132-yard course, to become the first Golden Eagle to record back-to-back all-tournament honors since Tyler Cassetty in 2011.
The Golden Eagles fought off in-state rival Lipscomb to take lone control of sixth place for the tournament after tying with the Bisons after the first two rounds of play. Tech combined to shoot 288-287-293=868 for the event. Integral in the move up was sophomore Adam Cunningham, who played three steady rounds of golf for a 72-73-74=219. He tied for 26th in the tournament.
Fellow sophomore Bryce Kendrick and redshirt junior Mason Griffin both tied for 29th in the event, scoring 220s to round out the scoring for the Tech squad. Griffin scored a 69-74-77=220 while Kendrick put up 76-72-72=220. Tech managed to outshoot Lipscomb by 10 shots over the final round, falling just four strokes shy of fifth place Southern Illinois.
Also competing for the Golden Eagles were junior Lee Whitehead, who turned in a scorecard of 76-73-76=225, and junior Maxx Verble, who competed as an individual and put together a 76-73-75=224 to place 55th out of 87 participants.
Ohio Valley Conference foe Belmont took home the top spot, shooting an impressive 848 for the tournament. Ashton Van Horne won medalist honors after scoring 67-69-69=205 in three rounds.
Tech will take a two-week hiatus before returning to the links for its final tournament of the fall when the team heads to the Hummingbird Intercollegiate hosted by Western Carolina at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley from Nov. 3 to Nov. 5.
