GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The ACU Wildcats capped their remarkable rise from the bottom of the standings to a top-10 finish at the NCAA Division II national golf tournament Friday with a final-round 296 that left them tied for eighth in the final standings.
ACU -- ranked No. 15 in the nation entering the national tournament -- fired a final-round 296 to finish at 1,202 for the four-round tournament. Barry University finished its wire-to-wire run for the national championship by firing a final-round 296 to finish at 50-over-par 1,186, beating South Caroina upstate by one stroke (51-over-par 1,187). Florida Southern finished third at 52-over-par 1,188, Columbus State was fourth at 53-over-par 1,189, and Washburn was fifth at 60-over-par 1,196.
The Wildcats finished tied for eighth with Cal State-Stanislaus as both teams finisheda t 66-over-par 1,202, one stroke behind Georgia College and State and Belmont Abbey College, both of which finished at 65-over-par 1,201.
The rise of ACU freshman
Hugues Joannes mirrored the Wildcats' improvement during the tournament as he improved from tied for 74th after the first round to a finish of tied for 14th at 13-over-par 297. Late Friday, Joannes was named to the Golf Coaches' Association of America Division II Ping first team all-America squad.
Starting on the back nine on Friday, Joannes bogeyed three of his first four holes, although he did birdie No. 11 to finish his first four holes at 2-over-par. He birdied the par-5 14th hole to to get to 1-over-par, but he bogeyed the 18th hole to make the turn at 2-over-par. He bogeyed the par-4 second hole to go back to 3-over-par, but birdied the par-4 fifth hole to get back down to 2-over-par. He parred out to finish at 2-over-par for his round.
Byerly's 72 was the Wildcats' best round of the day, and he got off to a good start, making the turn after his first nine at 1-under-par. But he double-bogeyed the par-4 first hole to go to 1-over-par, and followed that at No. 3 with a bogey to go to 2-over-par. Back-to-back birdies at Nos. 4 and 5, however, got him back to even-par before a bogety at No. 6 pushed him back to 1-over-par. He parred the final three holes to finish at 72.
