Marshall University’s men’s golf team finished tied for fourth out of 16 teams at the UK Invitational Sunday at the University of Kentucky’s Big Blue Course in Lexington. Marshall entered the third round in sole possession of third place, just two strokes back of the lead, however the Thundering Herd’s five-man team could not keep pace in the final round as Auburn emerged as the tournament champion.
Auburn, with a two round total of 579, trailed Kentucky (578) and was just one stroke ahead of Marshall (580) entering the third round on Sunday and the Tigers responded with three players carding one-over par 72’s and its fourth scoring a solid two-over 73 to finish the round with a 289. Meanwhile, Kentucky and Marshall would both fall off the pace with the Wildcats scoring a 298 and the Thundering Herd scoring a 312 in the third round. Akron was able to move into third with a final round 293 for a total of 878, while Toledo managed to tie Marshall for fourth at 892 with a third round score of 303.
Marshall’s Christian Brand (Sr., Charleston, W.Va.) and Bosten Miller (Jr., Charleston, W.Va.) both entered the final round tied for fourth at 142 after firing a 70 and a 71, respectively in the second round. However, Brand shot a 76 to finish the tournament in a tie for 7th at 218, while Miller shot a 79 in the final round to finish tied for 18th at 221.
The Herd’s Aaron Boggs (So., Madison, W.Va.), who was in the top 10 after a one-under par 70 in the first round, finished with rounds of 75 and 78 to total a 223 and finish tied for 23rd overall. Brian Anania (Fr., Hurricane, W.Va.) shot rounds of 78, 73, 79 to total a 230, while Nathan Kerns (So., Ironton, Ohio) shot rounds of 79, 82 and 82 to total a 243.
Dayton’s Chris Woeste took medalist honors with an impressive third round 67 that thrust him to the top of the field with a three-round total of 213.
First round play at UK’s Big Blue Course was suspended due to rain at 11:20 a.m. and did not resume until 1:56 p.m. ET on Saturday. Because of the delay, the second round was not completed by night fall. Second round play resumed with a shotgun start on Sunday (most players had seven holes to go when play was stopped on Saturday) with players finishing the second round and immediately moving on to the next hole to start round three.