Senior Chris Kovach and junior Nik Bentzinger stamped their places in the top-ten, as the Truman men’s golf team capped its 2010-2011 team season with a sixth-place finish at the MIAA Championship.
The Bulldogs posted a three-day total of 946, one shot ahead of Southwest Baptist and 11 strokes behind Missouri Western.
Kovach finished the three-round event with a 76 to finish tied for second in the individual race at 5-over par, while Bentzinger capped his tournament with a 78 to place seventh overall at +9.
As a unit, the Bulldogs shot 324 on a final day marred by wet weather and gusty winds at Tiffany Greens.
Sophomore Zach Burklund shot his lowest round of the tournament on Tuesday, turning in an 81, while fellow sophomore Jake Hanrahan counted the fourth team score with an 89.
Senior Andy Herington wrapped up his career with a 92.
Central Missouri won the team event with a score of 889 with the squad’s No. 1 player, Matt Miller, capturing medalist honors by eight strokes at 3-under par.
The NCAA unveils its 2011 men’s golf tournament field on Friday, April 22, with Kovach looking to secure an individual bid after finishing the regular season with the current top spot of all MIAA players not affiliated with a regionally-ranked school.
The men’s golf program, which began in 1933 and won 13 MIAA championships, is being discontinued after the 2011 academic year.
The team was dropped in the winter of 1977 but brought back in 1979, beginning one of the best runs in program history under head coach Bill Richardson. From 1984-1991,
Truman/Northeast men’s golf won eight straight conference titles and finished as high as 12th in the nation during that span.
The squad has produced two all-Americans with J.P. Velasco earning the award four times (1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989) and Dan Mulhearn (1989) once.
Courtesty Truman State University
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