Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Men's Golf sweeps top C-USA postseason honors
5/3/2019 11:00:00 AM | Men's Golf, BRAA
McEntire, Byrd headline C-USA superlatives
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – With a spectacular run to the Conference USA Championship in the rear view mirror and an NCAA Regional trip upcoming, Middle Tennessee men's golf was rewarded heavily for their hard work this season with numerous Conference USA superlatives to add to their resumes.
Headlining the league's yearly awards is first-year head coach Mark McEntire, who led a revamped squad to defend their C-USA title on his way to earning Phillip Hatchett Conference USA Coach of the Year honors.
A depleted roster saw McEntire approaching the start of his first semester with only three healthy players before he began to rebuild his new squad. After a tough fall semester, he would lead his team on to three individual titles in the spring before hoisting the C-USA trophy in April.
"What a great honor it is to be named Coach of the Year in Conference USA," McEntire said. "From what we started with in the fall to where we are now, I'm really proud of these guys and what we accomplished. Honestly this award goes to our players because without them it wouldn't have happened."
Senior Marcus Byrd came storming back in the spring after an injury kept him from competing in the fall, collecting a pair of individual titles and vaulting up the Golfstat rankings to win Conference USA Male Golfer of the Year and All-Conference USA First Team honors.
Byrd's initial burst back onto the national scene came at the Puerto Rico Classic, where he collected his first individual title and defeated 18 of the 20 Top 100 ranked players in the field, tying the other two for low medalist honors.
The Atlanta native finished his final campaign in Blue and White with a spectacular 71.5 stroke average thanks to 13 rounds of par or better in just 20 rounds of competition.
"Marcus' goal at the beginning of the year was to be ranked in the Top 100 in the world and with a good showing at Regionals and hopefully the NCAA Championship as well he'll be able to do that," McEntire stated. "His two wins in the spring were absolutely spectacular and he has put his name alongside the best players in the history of our program and it should be there. Without Marcus a lot of our success doesn't happen."
Joining Byrd in the All-Conference USA announcement are junior Tanner Owens and sophomore Cooper Sears, both of whom have been named to the league's Second Team.
Owens was a consistent force throughout the season for McEntire, posting 12 rounds of par or better on the season to finish his junior campaign with a 72.4 stroke average and an impressive six Top 16 finishes in 10 appearances for the Blue Raiders.
"Tanner was obviously our most consistent player all year," McEntire said. "He was really the glue to our program and I honestly feel that he is the best three guy in the country."
Sears, a Vanderbilt transfer who joined the program in January, came in right behind Byrd with a 72.1 stroke average in his first semester as a Blue Raider and turned in 11 rounds of par or better in just 20 rounds of golf, three of which came in his runner-up finish at the Conference USA Championship.
"Cooper had a fantastic year as well, coming in and winning his first tournament with us and playing solid throughout the semester," McEntire added. "His performance at the Conference USA Championship was obviously spectacular, but the thing I'm most excited and happy about for Cooper is that I feel like he's got his confidence and swagger back. If all three of these guys click at Regionals we have a chance to move on."
With the added boost of confidence from collecting multiple postseason awards on top of the momentum from winning their second consecutive C-USA Championship, the Blue Raiders should be riding a high entering the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional.
That doesn't mean, however, that they will forget to rely on the hard work that got them back to the postseason.
"I think these awards we are receiving are proof of the effort our team put in this year," McEntire added. "Everybody went in 100 percent, nobody complained or argued and nobody said anything about the cards we were dealt. They just went out there, worked hard, and now we see the fruits of their labor paying off."
Headlining the league's yearly awards is first-year head coach Mark McEntire, who led a revamped squad to defend their C-USA title on his way to earning Phillip Hatchett Conference USA Coach of the Year honors.
A depleted roster saw McEntire approaching the start of his first semester with only three healthy players before he began to rebuild his new squad. After a tough fall semester, he would lead his team on to three individual titles in the spring before hoisting the C-USA trophy in April.
"What a great honor it is to be named Coach of the Year in Conference USA," McEntire said. "From what we started with in the fall to where we are now, I'm really proud of these guys and what we accomplished. Honestly this award goes to our players because without them it wouldn't have happened."
Senior Marcus Byrd came storming back in the spring after an injury kept him from competing in the fall, collecting a pair of individual titles and vaulting up the Golfstat rankings to win Conference USA Male Golfer of the Year and All-Conference USA First Team honors.
Byrd's initial burst back onto the national scene came at the Puerto Rico Classic, where he collected his first individual title and defeated 18 of the 20 Top 100 ranked players in the field, tying the other two for low medalist honors.
The Atlanta native finished his final campaign in Blue and White with a spectacular 71.5 stroke average thanks to 13 rounds of par or better in just 20 rounds of competition.
"Marcus' goal at the beginning of the year was to be ranked in the Top 100 in the world and with a good showing at Regionals and hopefully the NCAA Championship as well he'll be able to do that," McEntire stated. "His two wins in the spring were absolutely spectacular and he has put his name alongside the best players in the history of our program and it should be there. Without Marcus a lot of our success doesn't happen."
Joining Byrd in the All-Conference USA announcement are junior Tanner Owens and sophomore Cooper Sears, both of whom have been named to the league's Second Team.
Owens was a consistent force throughout the season for McEntire, posting 12 rounds of par or better on the season to finish his junior campaign with a 72.4 stroke average and an impressive six Top 16 finishes in 10 appearances for the Blue Raiders.
"Tanner was obviously our most consistent player all year," McEntire said. "He was really the glue to our program and I honestly feel that he is the best three guy in the country."
Sears, a Vanderbilt transfer who joined the program in January, came in right behind Byrd with a 72.1 stroke average in his first semester as a Blue Raider and turned in 11 rounds of par or better in just 20 rounds of golf, three of which came in his runner-up finish at the Conference USA Championship.
"Cooper had a fantastic year as well, coming in and winning his first tournament with us and playing solid throughout the semester," McEntire added. "His performance at the Conference USA Championship was obviously spectacular, but the thing I'm most excited and happy about for Cooper is that I feel like he's got his confidence and swagger back. If all three of these guys click at Regionals we have a chance to move on."
With the added boost of confidence from collecting multiple postseason awards on top of the momentum from winning their second consecutive C-USA Championship, the Blue Raiders should be riding a high entering the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional.
That doesn't mean, however, that they will forget to rely on the hard work that got them back to the postseason.
"I think these awards we are receiving are proof of the effort our team put in this year," McEntire added. "Everybody went in 100 percent, nobody complained or argued and nobody said anything about the cards we were dealt. They just went out there, worked hard, and now we see the fruits of their labor paying off."
Players Mentioned
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