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| Fuller captures Conference USA individual golf championship |
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5/3/2024
Luke Fuller, former Montgomery County High School student/athlete and now a graduate student and member of the Western Kentucky University golf team, scored a major victory last week.
Playing with the Hilltopper squad at the Texarkana Country Club in Texarkana, Ark., Fuller won the Conference USA Golf Tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA’s post-seaon golf tournament.
Now Fuller awaits news on which regional event he’ll be in as the field is narrowed down prior to the national championship event.
Fuller, who was part of four regional championship teams at Montgomery County and won one individual regional title, has had three top 10 finishes in a successful final season with the Hilltoppers.
Fuller becomes the first player for Western Kentucky University to win an individual title since back in 2006 and the first Hilltopper ever to win the Conference USA title.
Fuller claimed the championship last Wednesday, wrapping up a dominant week that saw him shoot under par for the entire tournament.
He opened the event Monday with a 4-under par 68, shot 71 on Tuesday and tehn finished with a round of 70 that included seven birdies and an eagle on the seventh hole.
Fuller led the field with a toal of 14 birdies over the 72 holes and led the field with an average score of 4.25 on the par 5’s.
Fuller led runner-up golfer Josh Ryan of Liberty by three shots after the opening round, by one stroke entering the final round and won by a single stroke, shooting seven-under 209 to Ryan’s 210.
Nic Hoffman of Western Kentucky tied for 24th with a seven over 223 while Riley Grindstaff was tied with him at 223.
Stephen Warren rounded out the scoring for Western with a tournament score of 232.
As a team, Western Kentucky finished with four finishes in the top three in the tournaments where they competed.
The team results saw Louisiana Tech win the stroke play title by three shots over Sam Houston with Liberty third, just five shots off the lead.
Texas El Paso was fourth followed by Middle Tennessee State, Western Kentucky, New Mexico State and Jacksonville State.
The top four teams advanced to a match play tournament and Libert ended up defeating Texas El Paso 3&2 in the championship match
The Hilltoppers fell behind by 15 strokes after the opening round and were unable to make up any ground on front-running Louisiana Tech, which led second place Middle Tennesee State by seven strokes after round one and held a 11-stroke lead on Sam Houston entering the final round.
There are nine schools in Conference USA. Those are Florida International, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, UTEP (University of Texas-El Paso) and Western Kentucky University.
The 2024 NCAA Division I men’s golf championship begins with a 2 p.m. selecFuller headed up the eight-man all-tournament team.
Highlights for Fuller’s career for his previous seasons at Western Kentucky University included:
2022-2023
As a senior the previous season Fuller served as team captain for the Hilltoppers for the second year in a row. He had the second best stroke average through the first 26 rounds at 73.3 and logged the most top-25 finishes for the Hilltoppers with four.
He tied for seventh in the Xavier Invitational and for 11th at the Sea Palms Invitational where shot back-to-back rouds of 67 to begin the tournament.
He was named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll and served on the student/athlete Advisory Council.
2021-2022
He played in every tournament for the Toppers during his junior campaign and was second on the team in scoring average at 74.6. He led the team in the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate.
He was named to the Commissioner’s Honor Role and made the Dean’s List.
2020-221
He played in every tournament, finishing second on the team with a 75.3 stroke average and was on the Commissioner’s Honor Role and the Dean’s List.
2019-2020
He made it into three tournaments and averaged 77.5 strokes per round and was Conference USA Golfer of the Week after recording a top-25 finish in the Georgia Southern Individual Collegiate Tournament.
The 2024 NCAA Division I men’s golf championship begins with a 2 p.m. selection show on Wednesday, May 1. Golfers will go to four different regional sites and the tournament will conclude May 24-29 at Carlsbad, Calif.
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