Michael Hunt helps McMurry War Hawks Golf to Finish 4th at NCCAA

2017 Oct 31

Buoyed by its strong start on the first six holes of the day, the McMurry University men's golf team earned a fourth place finish at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) National championships, held at the par-72, 7,148-yard Hammock Beach Resort (Conservatory course). It was the War Hawks' best finish at the NCCAA championships and the program also had it's first-ever player Lane Roye with an All-American honor at the event.

And a decision by Roye and McM head coach Jay Rees to have Roye's putter re-gripped after the second round paid off in spades for the War Hawks. In Wednesday's final 18 holes, Roye needed just 26 putts for the entire round.

"Lane had a great putting day," Rees said. "We had his putter re-gripped last night (Tuesday) and it turned out to give him some real confidence in the final round."

McMurry shot the best team score of the final round - a 295 - as the squad bounded up the leaderboard early. The War Hawks finished with a three-round total of 909, just three strokes shy of placing third as a team.

"It was cold and windy this morning," Rees explained. "I told the guys that this is a perfect opportunity; we will move up in these conditions. Our goal today was to shoot the low round of the day and that is what happened.

'I'm proud that we earned the best finish by a McMurry team at the NCCAA championships."

Michael Hunt and Mills Meir both finished in a tie for 14th place, narrowly missing out on all-America accolades. Hunt and Meir both finished the 54 holes with 228 scores. In the final round, Hunt carded a 73 and Meir a 74.

Senior Sam Sweeney and newcomer Bautista Airaudo both tied for 33rd place with scores of 236. Airaudo came back from a disastrous 84 in round one to post back-to-back 76's in rounds two and three.

Competing for the War Hawks team was Michael Hunt of Sweetwater, TX.