Tech places ninth in 16-squad field

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — Mason Griffin fired an even-par 72 in the final round at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate Tuesday, finishing four-under par in a tie for 10^th place out of the field of 94 golfers.

Tech had a second top 20 individual in Greg Kitts, who shot a two-over 74 in the final round after posting a 72 in the first and career-low 67 in the second. Kitts finished in a tie for 15^th at three-under.

Griffin's third-round 72 went with a first-round 68 and a second-round 72 as he finished with a total score of 212.

As a team, Tennessee Tech posted a score of 294 on Tuesday to go with Monday's 288 and 286 and finish a combined 868, good enough for ninth place in the field of 16 squads at the Links at Novadell, north of Austin Peay's campus in Clarksville, Tenn.

Behind Griffin and Kitts, the third-lowest finisher for the Golden Eagles was Tyler Cassetty, who shot 74-71-76=221. Taylor Diegel finished one stroke back of Cassetty and tied Griffin for the best final round, coming in at an even-par 72 to go with a 76 and 74 on Monday for a total of 222. Travis Ramsey rounded out the Tech contingent with a 79-78-78=235.

Tech had two players to play as individuals — Lee Maxwell, who shot 74-74-81=229, and Maxx Verble, who came in at 77-76-80=233.

The Golden Eagles finished in the middle of a pack of eight Ohio Valley Conference schools competing at the tournament and came in ninth overall.

Austin Peay took the title at its own tournament with a score of 839. Jacksonville State came in second, finishing nine strokes back at 848, while Samford was third at 850. Binghamton placed fourth with a score of 859 and Eastern Kentucky was fifth at 860. The rest of the field was made up of Belmont (865), Troy (866), SIU Edwardsville (867), Tennessee Tech (868), Western Illinois (871), Wright State (875), Morehead State (875), Tennessee-Martin (878), Lipscomb (888), Tennessee State (898) and South Dakota (908).

Austin Peay's Marco Iten won the individual tournament in a playoff over Samford's Drew Aimone. Iten shot a 69 on Tuesday and finished 208 overall.

The Golden Eagles will take a week off before wrapping up their fall season at the Hummingbird Invitational hosted by Western Carolina on Oct. 31-Nov. 1.