Webster Takes Team Title, Kiley Closes At End For Individual

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The Webster University golf team won conference-leading seventh St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Golf Championship, leading through each of the three rounds of the event. Meanwhile, Iowa Wesleyan University's Kiley Miller closed late, making up a two stroke difference on the back nine to win the individual title.

Kiley Miller, SLIAC Champion

Miller, a junior, began the final day of the tournament in the top group; paired with Webster's Matt Gordon and Blackburn College's Trenton Easley.  Miller, trailing by three strokes at the start of the day saved his best round of the season for the final day. Miller shot a 71 in the third round of the championship, with one birdie, for an even par on the day.

Down by two strokes with four holes to play Miller began his move on the 15th hole, closing within one stroke of the leader Matt Gordon from Webster. Miller chipped on from the right side of the green on 16 and putted in for par to draw even with Gordon.

Neither golfer wanted to give way with the duo battling on Muirside, Aberdeen's 17th hole. Miller hit a long tee on 17, finding the fairway 250 yards out. He would put his third shot on the green and then two put for par. Not to be out-done Gordon, fought his way through a tough lie on his second shot, hitting on an upward slope from the rough. Gordon chipped on the green on his third shot and two-putted for par to set up a showdown entering the final hole.

Miller put his tee shot in the middle of the fairway while Gordon found water, setting up Miller for a chance to lock down the win. Miller did not waste the opportunity and placed his second shot from 185 yards out on the green, just ten feet from the pin. Miller would take the easy two-putt for par and wrap up the 2017 SLIAC Individual Title. Miller finished the tournament with a three-round total of 220, becoming the second Tiger in program history to win the individual title (Blake Mitchell in 2014).

There was little doubt for Webster as a team at any point in the three rounds, finishing with a team score of 897. The Gorloks put together a tournament best 295 in the first round, quickly building up an 11 stroke lead. Their consistency showed, shooting a 306 in the second round and then closing out the tournament with a 296 in the third round. The Gorloks had all five players record multiple birdies in the final round, with Zac Ciesla closing it out for the Gorloks with a final round of 71. In fact, three different players led the Gorloks for the three rounds with Gordon shooting a team-best 71 in the first round and Will Murphy a team-best 73 in the second round.

Blackburn College placed second in the tournament with a 917, their highest finish since winning the title in 2010. The Beavers gave a good charge on the final day, shooting a 300 but were unable to overcome their 11 stroke deficit from the first-round. Trenton Easley paced the Beavers with a 225, finishing 4th overall while his brother Keegan shot a 229 and finished tied for 6th.  Jordan McMillen tied for 12th and Anthony Harper tied for 17th to give the Beavers four Top 20 golfers.

Iowa Wesleyan finished third for the third consecutive year. The Tigers went 306-311-313 for the three rounds with Miller being joined by Michael Neff (231) in the Top Ten finishers. Blake Forsythe tied for 19th with a 231.

Two-time defending champion Spalding University took fourth place with a 934 and were led by Anthony Irwin's 230. Gray Gupton (232), Nestor Cidras (233) and Zach Herfel (240) all finished in the Top 20.

Fontbonne University was fifth overall with a 939. All five of the Griffins golfers finished within eight strokes of each other with Zach Goers (234) finishing a team-best 14th just ahead of Will Pruden (237), who placed 15th.

MacMurray College finished sixth overall with a 983 and wAS led by Zach Koonce's 238. Westminster College took seventh with a 1080 and wAS led by Blake Harris' 255. Greenville College, in their first tournament, finished eighth with an 1136 and were led by Tyler Thorpe's 258 while Eureka College rounded out the teams with an 1385. Tyler Nelson led the Red Devils with a three-day score of 275.