GOODYEAR, Ariz. – The Western Washington University men's golf team closed out the 2021-22 regular season with a consistent final round to finish in 4th place out of 17 teams at the Palm Valley Classic.

 

All five Vikings shot 74-or-lower (2-over-par) in Tuesday's final round for a team score of 1-under-par 287. Bolstered by a first-round 8-under-par 280 for the third-lowest team round of the tournament, the Vikings finished at 1-over-par 865 for the team's sixth top-five finish in eight regular-season tournaments.

 

Entering the final round tied for 5th place, the West Region top-ranked Vikings played consistent golf throughout the final 18 holes and received a strong finish by freshman Conrad Brown to move up the leaderboard one spot to finish alone in 4th place.

 

"Today was a very solid and consistent round of team golf – not too many highs and not may lows," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "We built some momentum midway through today's round, cooled off a little, and then got really strong finishes from Aidan (Thain) and Conrad (Brown). The team had a strong fall, came out and played great this spring and they are heading into the postseason as a confident group. I am looking forward to seeing them compete in these big tournaments."

 

Reigning GNAC Golfer of the Week Aidan Thain led WWU in a tie for 16th place at 1-under-par 215, turning in rounds of 68-75-72. In 12 rounds during the spring portion of the schedule Thain turned in nine rounds of par or better and placed in the top 20 in all four tournaments (top 10 three times). 

 

Senior Devin Andrews tied for 25th in the 98-player field at 1-over-par 217 (68-75-74) and Brown tied for 30th at 2-over-par 218 (70-78-70). Brown birdied two of his last three holes in the final round to seal the 4th-place finish for the Vikings.

 

Western's starting five was tightly packed in the middle of the field, with freshman Seth King tying for 42nd at 4-over-par 220 following his 1-under-par 71 in the final round. Junior Jordan Lee was one shot back of King tying for 45th at 5-over-par 221 (74-73-74).

 

No. 17 nationally-ranked Midwestern State completed the wire-to-wire victory at 20-under-par 844 for a 12-stroke win over Colorado State-Pueblo (-8, 856). Fort Lewis finished four strokes ahead of the Vikings in 3rd place at 3-under-par 861.

 

Jake Doggett of Lubbock Christian won individual medalist honors finishing at 10-under-par 206 for a one-stroke victory over Joey Geary of Western New Mexico.

 

With the regular season now complete, the Vikings will take next week off to prepare for the 2022 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships that will be held April 18-19 at the Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. WWU has won nine of the 13 GNAC Championships and featured the individual medalist eight times.

 

The Vikings conclude the Palm Valley Classic on Tuesday with the final 18 holes of the 54-hole tournament. A shotgun start is scheduled for 7:30 am at Palm Valley Golf club. WWU will start on holes 11-14 and paired with Colorado State-Pueblo, Cal State East Bay and Holy Names. The final round leaderboard can be tracked online via Golfstat with a direct link at wwuvikings.com/MG_Live.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard from the regular-season-ending Palm Valley Classic:

 

 

The Vikings competed final regular-season tournament with the 2022 GNAC Championships up next April 18-19 at the Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. WWU placed in the top five in the team standings in six of eight tournaments during the 2021-22 season with a pair of victories.

 

Here is a look at the complete 2021-22 schedule for the WWU Men's Golf program, which includes four fall and four spring tournaments leading up to the GNAC Championships. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/MGolf.