Sept. 12, 2002
Morganton, N.C. - Junior Clay Kilgore (Nebo, N.C.) had a record-breaking performance to lead the Western Carolina men's golf team to a fifth-place finish at the Billy Joe Patton Intercollegiate, held Sept. 9-10 at Morganton's Mimosa Hill Country Club.
Kilgore, who qualified for the 2002 U.S. Amateur Championship with rounds of 71-65 at the same course this summer, carded a 69-67 for a total of 136. His 136 tied for the 36-hole medalist honor, but Kilgore was defeated in a playoff by Pfeiffer's Luke Poulter. Kilgore's 67 is a WCU record, while his 69 ties for third in the WCU re cord book for lowest single round. With those two rounds, his two-day total of 136 shattered the WCU record by six strokes. The previous best two-day total was 142, which was recorded by three different Catamounts.
Kilgore's effort propelled Western to a two-day total of 587, which is the third-best total in WCU history for a two-round event. Helping the Cats' cause were Ryan Berry and Chass Kress as well as newcomers Tim Eckberg and Blake Wray. Berry carded a 77-71/148 to tie for 19th, while Kress fired a 71-78/149 to tie for 21st. Eckberg and Wray each tallied a 78-77/155.
"It's hard to believe we had our third-best total in school history and Clay Kilgore set several records and yet we were still disappointed with our results," said WCU head coach Johnny Wike. "I hope that is a sign that we are expecting more out of ourselves. We had a goal to shot around par this season. We were 11 over for the two days, which isn't bad, but believe we can do better."
Western Carolina will return to action Sept. 15-16 at Elon's Sea Trail Intercollegiate. The annual event is played at Sunset Beach, N.C., at the Sea Trail Resort.
Billy Joe Patton/Lenoir-Rhyne Intercollegiate Mimosa Hills Country Club Morganton, NC Sept. 9-10, 2002
TEAM TOTAL 1. Pfeiffer 281-287=568 2. Presbyterian 287-291=578 3. Tusculum 295-284=579 4. Belmont-Abbey 294-290=584 5. Western Carolina 295-292=587 6. Carson-Newman 298-290=588 7. Lenoir-Rhyne 294-306=600 8. Wingate 303-302=605 9. Catawba 300-306=606 10. Catawba Valley 314-301=615 11. Johnson C. Smith 321-337=658
WCU Results Clay Kilgore (lost in a playoff) 69-67=136 1st-t Ryan Berry 77-71=148 19th-t Chase Kress 71-78=149 21st-t Tim Eckberg 78-77=155 42nd-t Blake Wray 78-77=155 42nd-t
