Golden Eagles Battle Weather, Place Sixth at SAC Championships
ARDMORE, Okla. (April 23, 2013) - Over three rounds, freshman Sam Greenleaf improved his score by 11 strokes and finished No. 25 in the field, leading the men's golf team to a sixth-place finish at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships today, held at the Dornick Hills Golf and Country Club.
As a team, John Brown bettered its score by at least 10 strokes each round, carding a 355-344-334-1033, landing the Golden Eagles to a nine-stroke lead over Mid-America Christian (Okla.), which finished in the final slot of the tournament.
Greenleaf's 88-83-76-247 was the best improvement over the course of the tournament of any JBU player, while senior Nathan Sudheimer's 88-85-86-259 earned him No. 31 in the tournament on the par-70, 6,543-yard course.
As the tournament's final round began, the temperature fell to 48 degrees, dropping even further to 41 degrees as the day progressed. A steady drizzle that littered the course became sleet as temperatures dipped.
"This was a good learning experience for the team," said head coach Brian Thomas. "I'm very proud of how each player improved as the weather continued to worsen. Sam's round today was very impressive and proved that he can play with other players in this conference, which is the toughest in the nation.
"We're going to miss our senior, Nathan, that played in his final tournament at JBU. Nathan didn't play his best, but had a very good year and we are going to greatly miss him."
Sophomore Tommy Wright finished three strokes behind Sudheimer, claiming a 88-88-86-262 while freshman Connor Reed landed three strokes behind Wright, finishing with a 91-88-86-265.
Freshman Max Gordon finished out the scoring for John Brown, carding a 94-89-90-273.
Oklahoma City won the tournament with a 906, claiming its fourth-consecutive conference title, along with a berth to the NAIA Championships on May 14-17 at Creekside Golf Club in Salem, Ore. OCU's Michael Palmer notched the individual championship with a 74-72-73-219.
