Wrapping up its last series of the year, the UCA men’s golf team showed out and secured a top-five finish at the Hawkeye Invitational on April 13-14.
This is the team’s second top-five finish in back-to-back weeks as they took home fourth place after the team shot one under 283 on 18 holes. This competition gave way for multiple golfers to place inside the top 10 on the individual leaderboard.
Senior Harrison Arnold and freshman Zach Little finished ninth and third place respectively, with Little picking up 14 birdies through three rounds to vault him into the position.
Little’s best performances of the weekend came in rounds one and three, where he was able to put up 67 strokes in both games.
Little would have the second lowest score for a round with 67; the only person to score higher was Wisconsin’s Cameron Huss, who scored a 66.
Arnold was also electric on the green, picking up 12 total birdies and one eagle throughout the weekend. This would bring his total score to 209 over the series. Like Little, he was able to score a 67 in his first round, which would help propel him into the top 10.
Among the other golfers that attended, freshman Mark Stockdale just missed out on the top 25 and found himself in a six-way tie for 26th place. He added four birdies to his scorecard April 14 and finished with a final score of 214.
Another golfer who found himself in a six-way tie was freshman Luke Sienkiewicz, who finished in a tie for 39th with a final score of 216. His best performance would come in round two, where he would pick up a score of 69, four strokes better than his round-one performance and five strokes better than his round-three performance.
Rounding out the last golfer of the weekend, junior Palmer McSpadden found himself finishing the weekend with a final score of 228, with his best performance coming in round three, where he would score well in the front nine holes, giving him a score of 74 in the final round of play.
The Bears’ next challenge will come when they head to Dothan, Alabama, to challenge for the ASUN championship.
The games will begin April 21, and the Bears will look to win gold while competing against all ASUN conference teams.
This tournament will be the last stop for the Bears in their 2023-2024 season and will be a farewell tour for fifth-year senior Harrison Arnold.
The men’s team finished in the top half of 77 percent of its games. This factor sides with the Bears as they look to make a deep run in the ASUN tournament.