TEXARKANA, Ark. — Behind four top-25 individual finishers, the UTSA men's golf team placed fifth at the Conference USA Championship on Wednesday at Texarkana Country Club (par 72/6,969 yards).
The 44-ranked Roadrunners carded a 4-under-par 860 to place fifth in the 13-team field, eight strokes in front of Old Dominion and 11 ahead of a tie for seventh between Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss. UTSA ended up three shots back of No. 33 Charlotte (-7), which secured the fourth and final spot in the match play competition along with Middle Tennessee (-14), North Texas (-12) and No. 38 UAB (-11).
"That was an exciting final round," head coach John Knauer said. "Our guys never gave up in the face of adversity and kept battling to the very end. We just were not able to capitalize on some of the opportunities that were presented to us. Credit the other four teams that made match play. They are great teams. Now we will turn our focus to finding out what NCAA regional site we will be sent to. It's very exciting to know we're in a great position to be part of the NCAA tournament."
Individually, Chad Sewell led UTSA by firing a 2-under 214 to secure sole possession of 12th place, his fourth top-20 showing of the season. The senior from Conroe posted an even-par 72 in the final round on the strength of four birdies, three coming as part of a 2-under 34 on the back nine. Sewell opened with a 68-74—142 on Monday-Tuesday and ended up with the best 54-hole total and finish in a conference tournament during his time as a Roadrunner.
Collin Clark posted UTSA's low scorecard of the day with a 2-under 70 that featured six birdies, including three in a row on Nos. 7-9 to help the "super" senior go out in 2-under 34. The Mansfield native turned in rounds of 72 and 74 on the first two days and totaled 13 birdies for the week en route to finishing with a share of 18th place at even-par 216, the top score at a league championship of his career.
Hunter Bott and Christian Fanfelle both grabbed a share of 23rd at 1-over 217.
Competing in his first C-USA Championship, Bott posted rounds of 70 and 73 for the first 36 holes before closing with a 74 that was highlighted by a pair of birdies. The sophomore from Montgomery led the entire field in par-3 scoring at 1-under and his 37 pars were tied for the most on the team.
Fanfelle registered the best conference finish and total of his career after turning in a pair of even-par rounds after opening with a 73 on Monday. The junior from San Antonio logged six birdies over his final 18 holes and finished with a team-best 14 for the week.
Michael Rome rounded out the UTSA lineup in a tie for 36th with a 5-over 221. The Austin Westlake High School product was steady in his final round with 15 pars and a birdie on the 560-yard, par-5 16th hole en route to a 73 after opening with a 77-71—148.
The Roadrunners will find out their NCAA postseason destination next Wednesday, May 5, during the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships Selection Show, which will be televised on the Golf Channel at 1 p.m. CT.
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