Billy Tom Sargent notched the WKU men’s golf team’s highest individual conference finish since 2010 on Monday, tying for 12th in the 2017 Conference USA Championship.
The redshirt sophomore Sargent fired a three-round total of 221 (73-73-75) at the par-72, 6,969-yard Texarkana Country Club. Teams completed the final two rounds Monday.
Sargent is WKU’s highest finisher since Alex Yost tied for sixth in the 2010 Sun Belt Conference Championship, and his 221 is the best by a Hilltopper since 2014.
Sargent led the entire tournament with 40 pars and was just five strokes out of second place. It was his seventh top-20 finish in 12 tournaments and the eighth time he’s paced the Hilltoppers this year.
“It was probably the firmest greens we’ve played all year, and the speeds were really hard to get used to,” Sargent said. “I know myself and my teammates would be hitting irons into the front of the greens, and they’d bounce off the back. It was kind of hard to adjust to that, but we’ve got a really young team, so I feel like we learned a lot this week.
“That’s the main thing we can take out of it. We’re disappointed with our finish, but we just have to move on and look forward to next year.”
WKU finished 10th in the 13-team field with a 910 (299-306-305) tally. The team title will be decided Tuesday amongst the top four squads in match play.
Charlotte’s Seth Gandy was individual medalist at 214.
WKU sophomore Stuart Easton followed Sargent by tying for 27th with a 226 (72-78-76) total. Sophomore Blake Smith tied for 34th at 230 (75-75-80).
Redshirt freshman Linus Lo fired a 239 (79-80-80), and freshman Kyle Jeffers bounced back from a tough first two rounds to lead WKU in Monday’s finale with a 74. He finished at 241 (85-82-74).
“The result was not our goal that we’ve had our sights set on all year long of making it into the top four and match play,” WKU head coach Phillip Hatchett said. “We didn’t meet our expectations of what we had been trying hard to achieve. We’re going to take this and use this as learning time and go forward and keep working on the things we need to get better as a team.”
WKU’s young squad – almost entirely made up of golfers who are redshirt sophomores or younger – logged four top-five finishes this season, led by a tie for second at the East Carolina Intercollegiate. Sargent also registered two individual victories.
C-USA Championship Final Results
T12. Billy Tom Sargent (73-73-75-221)
T27. Stuart Easton (72-78-76-226)
T34. Blake Smith (75-75-80-230)
56. Linus Lo (79-80-80-239)
T59. Kyle Jeffers (85-82-74-241)
How to follow the Hilltoppers: For complete information on WKU Hilltopper Golf, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUMensGolf.
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Zach Greenwell
Associate Director
WKU Athletic Communications/Media Relations