East Carolina University
Conference USA Championships
Pirates Finish Sixth At C-USA Championships
April 26, 2011 | Men's Golf
April 26, 2011
TEXARKANA, Ark. --- Junior David Watkins finished in third-place and East Carolina earned its third-consecutive sixth-place finish at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championships, which concluded Tuesday at the par 72, 6,935-yard Texarkana Country Club.
Watkins, who finished two strokes out of first-place, carded the lowest round of the day at 4-under 68. The Hamlet native sat at 7-under with two holes to play, but recorded a double bogey on No. 3 before he pared No. 4 to complete the tournament at 5-under (69-74-68=211). His third-place finish earned him a spot on the all-tournament team.
ECU junior Harold Varner also earned a top 10 finished as he finished tied for seventh at 1-under (72-74-69=215). Varner recorded five birdies and one eagle during the final round after shooting under-par on just five of the first 36 holes. Varner climbed 11 positions on Tuesday to post his second-straight top 10 C-USA Championship finish.
Junior Jake Colley carded a 54-hole total of 8-over (74-72-78=224), while classmate Adam Stephenson finished at 10-over (74-75-77=226) and Conner Sock shot 17-over (76-81-76-233) for the Pirates, who shot 10-over (289-295-290=874) as a team.
Memphis' Jonathan Fly took the individual title with a three round total of 7-under (67-73-69=209), edging UCF's Greg Eason (69-72-69=210) by one stroke. Fly birdied No. 17 and then pared No. 18 to overtake Eason who pared 17 and then bogeyed 18.
Eason help UCF claim the team title for the third-straight season. The Knights shot 8-under 280 in the final round to finish 2-under (293-289-280=862) for the tournament, two strokes ahead of Memphis (281-299-284=864). The Knights had three players finish in the top 13 with all five players shooting par or better on the final day. Tulsa finished in third-place at 4-over (289-288-291=868) and Houston (288-297-286=871) and UAB (291-294-286=871) followed tied for fourth at 7-over.
UCF receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals, which will be held May 19-21 at six locations. Complete team and individual qualifiers, as well as site of regional play, will be announced next month.
