BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Lightning strikes and rain midway through
Tuesday's third round forced officials to halt the Samford
Invitational, making the second round results final and leaving
Tennessee Tech tied for 12th place in the 18-team tournament that
kicked off the team's spring schedule.
Greg Kitts (in photo) and Tyler Cassetty tied for the team lead,
both finishing in 24th place with identical scores of 149. Kitts
followed his first-round 75 with a one-shot improvement and a 74,
while Cassetty did just the opposite, carding a 74 Monday and a 75
in the second round.
One shot back, in a tie for 32nd place, Mason Griffin showed the
biggest climb for the Golden Eagles. After a first-round 79,
Griffin came back with a 71 for his 36-hole total of 150. Sam
Schrock (80-82--162) was tied for 82nd place while Lee Maxweel
(77-93--170) never got the chance to recover from a tough second
round showing and finished in 90th place.
The Golden Eagles did improve three strokes with rounds of 305 and
302, tying with Houston Baptist for 12th place. Tech was third
among four Ohio Valley Conference teams in the tournament. Eastern
Kentucky was the highest-finishing OVC school in seventh place,
followed by Murray State in ninth. The Golden Eagles were five
shots ahead of UT Martin, which placed 15th.
Central Arkansas coasted to the team title with a 562 total, 18
strokes ahead of the Alabama JV squad (580) in second place.
Illinois State (588), Winthrop (591) and Belmont (593) rounded out
the Top Five places.
Tech's next event comes Monday and Tuesday at the Grover Page
Classic, hosted by UT Martin.