Men's Golf goes back-to-back at C-USA Championship

Wednesday, April 24

Texarkana, AR

All Day

Middle Tennessee

Conference USA Championship Match Play

4/24/2019 7:44:00 PM | Men's Golf, BRAA

Blue Raiders capture second consecutive team title in Texarkana

By: @MTAthletics

TEXARKANA, Ark. – After a difficult offseason that saw the Middle Tennessee Men's Golf roster depleted, new Head Coach Mark McEntire led his revamped squad to a spectacular triumph Wednesday as the Blue Raiders clinched their second consecutive Conference USA Championship at Texarkana Country Club.

On a week where all five guys contributed to the win, it was Middle Tennessee's newest teammate, Vanderbilt transfer Cooper Sears, who would provide the heroics on Wednesday evening with a thrilling win on the 24^th hole of his finals match.

"What a week," McEntire exclaimed. "What a year! I am so proud of these guys. Congratulations to our seniors, Marcus Byrd and James Beckner. This was an unbelievable three days of golf.

"Never in my coaching career have I had a team that fought as hard as this team. This is the story of the year in college golf."

With the trophy returning to Murfreesboro, the Blue Raiders have earned their third consecutive NCAA Regional berth after hosting the College Grove Regional in 2017 and competing in the Raleigh Regional in 2018.

The Blue Raiders came storming back in their semifinal match against No. 3 seed Charlotte to start the day, claiming several of their last few holes to advance to the finals.

McEntire and his squad found themselves down 4-1 in the team match score with only Tanner Owens and Marcus Byrd left on the course after Sears clinched his match 2 and 1.

With Owens down 1 through 16 and Byrd down 1 through 15, the veteran duo caught fire as they each won two holes before Byrd halved the Par 4 ninth hole to steal a 3-2 win against the 49ers.

The finals match against the Roadrunners was tight the entire way, teetering in favor of each team at points while frequently sitting all square across the five individual matches.

As it came down the stretch, the Raiders were the first to drop a match as freshman Palmer Sadlowski fell 4 and 3.

Senior James Beckner and Owens quickly got their team back in the driver's seat though, clinching their matches 3 and 1 and 2 and 1, respectively.

With sophomore Cooper Sears all square through 18 and moving on to extra holes, Byrd dropped the 17^th hole to fall 1 down and couldn't recover on 18, putting the pressure on Middle Tennessee's newest golfer.

Sears, who just arrived in Murfreesboro from Vanderbilt in January, remained all square with UTSA's Michael Rome for five more holes until the pair reached the sixth green for the second time of the afternoon.

After Rome just missed a downhill 20-footer, Sears confidently stepped up and drained a birdie putt from inside 10 feet to clinch the title in Texarkana.

"We made some incredible putts out there and that was some of the best golf I've played in a good bit," Sears said. "It feels so good to get this victory, especially for the seniors, Marcus and James. It's an incredible feeling, words can't describe it."

Middle Tennessee now returns home with their season extended and more practices in their future as they await their NCAA Regional destination, which will be announced next Wednesday evening during the selection show on Golf Channel at 8:00 p.m. CT.