ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – North Carolina A&T's men's golf team completed its first tournament of the spring portion of its season on Tuesday at the World Golf Village Collegiate played at the par-72, 7,068-yard World Golf Village King & Bear Golf Course.
The Aggies finished 14th with a 29-over 893. Sophomores Ryuki Torri and Drew Walker had tremendous third rounds to lead A&T. Both men finished the tournament in a seven-way tie for 23rd by shooting a three-round 3-over 219.
Stetson won the tournament with a 16-under 848, followed by Jacksonville State (851), Belmont (862), Purdue Fort Wayne (866) and UT Martin (873) in the top-5. Jacksonville State's Erik Jansson won the tournament as an individual by carding a 16-under 200. He finished three strokes ahead of Purdue Fort Wayne's Kasey Lilly, who shot a 13-under 203. Stetson's Dominic Clemons (204) and IUPUI's Taylor Gardner completed the tournament's top 4.
Walker had a tremendous third round, finishing one stroke off the program record by shooting a 5-under 67 thanks to his six-birdie afternoon. He made his day more impressive, considering it started with him finishing his second round from Monday after officials suspended play with two bogeys.
But he quickly recovered from those two holes by starting his third round with a birdie on the par-4, 467-yard 16th before carding pars on the following three holes. After a bogey on No. 2, Walker heated up. He birdied the 383-yard par-4 No. 4 to move to 1-under in the third round. He then birdied consecutive holes on the par-3 No. 6 and the par-5, 573-yard seventh.
His solid day continued with a birdie on the par-4, 406-yard 10th. He took advantage of the 557-yard par-5 13th before ending his day with two straight pars. Walker moved up an incredible 46 spots from his second-round placement to his 23rd-place finish.
Meanwhile, Torri's day started by finishing his second round. He posted a birdie on the 13th, a par on the 14th, and a bogey on the 15th to go into the third round at 1-under. The round started with a par on the 16th before he bogeyed the 17th to move to par for the tournament. Torri returned to the red numbers over the next three holes with birdies on the 540-yard par-5 18th, the par-1, 399-yard first, and the par-4, 435-yard second.
After getting to 2-under for the round and 3-under for the tournament, Torri ran into some trouble. Torri bogeyed six of the next eight holes to move to 3-over for the tournament. He got back on track on the 11th with a par before birdieing the par-4, 397-yard 12th and the 13th. He bogeyed his final two holes to end the round at 4-over.
Camilo Marin Raga posted three birdies on his card to shoot 75 in the final round. Raga shot 79-73-75 for the tournament to finish at 11-over 227 in a tie for 69th. Owen Walsh carded three birdies and three double bogeys during his final round on Tuesday to finish with a 77. He shot 76-75-77 for the week to finish at 12-over 228, finishing in a tie for 73rd.
JR Smith played as an individual and finished the tournament with a 77-80-82-239. Conrado Chozas also competed for the Aggies, ending with a 244. The Aggies will stay in Florida this week to participate in the Arcis HBCU Championship, Feb. 25-26, at the Golf Course of Westin Hill in Westin, Fla.
