Southern Illinois ends Wichita State’s streak at MVC men’s golf tournament
For the first time in nine years, the Wichita State men’s golf team walked away from the Missouri Valley Conference meet without the championship plaque.
Southern Illinois won its program’s first conference title, shooting 877 for the three rounds at Prairie Dunes Country Club, 37 over on the par-70 course.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Southern Illinois,” Wichita State coach Grier Jones said. “They had the lowest score at the end of the round and that’s what matters, we didn’t have our best day of golf and unfortunately that’s how it ended.”
The Shockers went into Tuesday’s final round trailing the Salukis by five strokes. WSU shot 300, losing another five strokes to Southern Illinois.
WSU junior Grant Bennett played the front nine in 2-under 33, leaving him 1 over for the tournament and in contention for the individual title. Bennett held the lead after 14 holes, but a double bogey on No. 16 dropped him the second.
“Grant’s a guy that has been consistent for us all year,” Jones said. “He played a great front nine and struggled a little bit on the back. He chunked his tee-shot on 16 and I think it got in his head and unfortunately it was a bad time for that to happen.”
Illinois State freshman Trent Wallace picked the right time to fire his personal best, shooting a 69 Tuesday to finish 1-over 211, two strokes ahead of Bennett. Wallace birdied 16 and 17 to take the lead.
“I knew coming into the tournament that a lot was at stake,” Wallace said. “It was an honor to play with Grant (Bennett), he’s a great player and I was shocked when he doubled 16. I knew that that was my time to step it up, and I made a great putt on 16 and it just went from there.”
WSU Sophomore Conrad Walcher and senior Alec Heinen finished tied for 11th place. Walcher shot a final-round 77 for a total of 223, and Heinen shot 76 on Tuesday.
Bennett was named the Missouri Valley Conference golfer of the year following the round. WSU sophomore Jacob Bishop was named to the All-Conference team along with Bennett.
Southern Illinois will earn the automatic bid in the NCAA Regionals, while Wallace earned the automatic individual bid.
TEAM SCORES
Southern Illinois, 289-293-295–877
Wichita St., 288-299-300–887
Illinois St., 293-296-300–889
Missouri St., 298-291-309–898
Bradley, 299-300-304–903
Evansville, 300-301-305–906
Drake, 297-304-306–907
Northern Iowa, 302-307-316–925
Loyola, 309-300-329–938
INDIVIDUALS
1. Trent Wallace, ISU, 73-69-69–211
2. Grant Bennett, WSU, 71-72-70–213
3. Brandon Carlson, SIU, 74-71-70–215
4. Rick VoyVodic, UE, 75-72-70–217
5. Peyton Wilhoit, SIU, 68-73-77–218
6. Lyle Burns, BU, 73-74-72–219
T7. Matt Lavery, DU, 72-74-75–221
T7. Brik Brauburger, MSU, 78-70-73–221
T9. Tyler Gray, UE, 76-72-74–222
T9. Luke Gannon, SIU, 74-73-75–222
This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Southern Illinois ends Wichita State’s streak at MVC men’s golf tournament."