April 26, 2011

Golfstat Results

TEXARKANA, Ark. - Jonathan Fly carded a final-round 69 and overcame a one-stroke deficit with three holes to play to claim the individual title at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championship.

"I'm extremely proud of Jonathan," University of Memphis head coach Grant Robbins said. "He's worked really hard and has been knocking on the door all season. It's great for him to finally breakthrough."

Fly trailed UCF's Greg Eason by one stroke through 15 holes before sticking his approach shot to within a foot on the 17th hole. Fly tapped in for his birdie to tie things up heading to the 54th hole.

Eason made bogey on the last hole, and Fly's par earned him a one-stroke victory, the first individual title of his collegiate career. Fly finished with a three-day total of 209 (67-73-69) to lead the Tigers and was named to the all-tournament team for his performance.

Memphis came up just short of its first-ever C-USA team crown, finishing two strokes shy of champion UCF. The Tigers carded a final-round team score of 284 (-4) to post a 54-hole total of 864 (281-299-284), but UCF's final-round 280 (-8) was too much as the Knights moved past Memphis and second-round leader Tulsa to claim the team championship.

The Tigers accept their runner-up trophy at the C-USA Championship.

Jack Belote (73-75-71) and Steve Lee (71-73-75) posted 54-hole totals of 219 and finished tied for 19th position. Lexus Keoninh rebounded with a final-round 71 and posted a three-round total of 221 to earn a share of 26th position, while Grant Milner (71-78-73) finished tied for 30th.

"At the beginning of the week, we wanted to be in contention on the last nine holes," Robbins said. "We did that, and we beat some really good teams. I'm proud of the guys; they were solid."

Tulsa, who led entering Tuesday's final round, only added three strokes to its total but finished third overall. UAB and Houston both posted their best rounds of the tournament at 286 to finish tied for fourth with a three-round total of 871.

The second-place team finish is the lowest ever for Memphis in the C-USA Championship since joining the conference in 1996. Fly's individual conference crown is the first since Clint Clement's title in the inaugural 1996 C-USA Championship.

Memphis will now wait to hear if it will earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals. That announcement is scheduled for May 9.