Gray Posts His Second Straight First-Place Finish, as the Runnin' Bulldogs Take Third at the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate
November 01, 2011 | Men's Golf
Sapphire, N.C. - Despite having both days of the tournament start late due to morning frost, Gardner-Webb senior Kristopher Gray took first-place overall for the event, while the Gardner-Webb men's golf team picked up a third-place team finish at the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate, hosted by Western Carolina at the par-71, 6,767-yard Country Club of Sapphire Valley.
Gardner-Webb as a team carded a first-round team score of 282, -2 under par, on Monday to take a five-stroke lead over the 17-team field heading into the final round of play on Tuesday. The Runnin' Bulldogs followed up Monday's round with a second round 291, +7, to finish the two-day event in third-place with a combined team score of 573, +5.
Gray paced the Runnin' Bulldogs for the second straight tournament, as the senior carded rounds of 67, -4 under par, and 68, -3 under par, to finish the event in first-place with a combined score of 135, -7 under par, and two strokes ahead of the second-place finisher Paul Dunne of No. 19 ranked University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Gray totaled a tournament-high 25 even pars to go along with nine birdies to hold on to first-place from start to finish in the event.
GWU's Daley Byles posted a top-20 finish, placing in a four-way tie for 17th-place overall. Byles turned in six birdies over his two rounds of play to card two rounds of 72, +1, to finish with a combined score of 144, +2, for the tournament.
Freshman Matt Yelverton and junior Daniel Kim both finished tied for 38th-place overall, as each posted combined scores of 148, +6. Yelverton carded rounds of 72, +1, and 76, +4, to comprise his score of 148, +6, while Kim, who shot an even par 71 on Monday struggled on Tuesday, recording a 77, +6, to fall out of the top-10 and into a tie at 38th.
Rounding out the scoring for GWU was Steven Jones, as the sophomore turned in rounds of 77 and 75 to finish with a two-day score of 152, +10, and in a tie of 63rd-place overall.
Appalachian State rallied from a seventh-place tie with a tournament single-round record low of 273, -11 under par, on Tuesday to hold off No. 19 UAB for a two-stroke victory.
The Runnin' Bulldogs finished ahead of Vanderbilt, Francis Marion, Furman, Jacksonville, Samford, Western Carolina, Tennessee Tech, Radford, Wofford, Guilford, IPFW, Elon, High Point and Colgate.
The GWU men's golf team will now take the winter off and will return to the links for competition on February 27-28th, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will tee-off their 2012 spring season at the Charleston Shootout hosted by the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C.
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| 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate Final Results |
