JONESBORO, Ark. –
Matt Tolan earned his second straight top-10 finish and
Justin Kolb enjoyed a career-best 54-hole total and finish as South Dakota took fourth place at the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate on Tuesday afternoon at the RidgePointe Country Club.
After Tolan finished tied for ninth in the Coyotes' last time out at the Zach Johnson Invitational, the senior bettered that placing by one spot on Tuesday, taking eighth in the 74-player field after a final-round 73. Tolan finished the event with a 215 (72-70-73) over his three rounds to lead the South Dakota card. The Coyotes fired an 880 (296-296-288) across their 54 holes of action to finish fourth overall and second among Summit League schools behind only Oral Roberts.
Host Arkansas State (280-275-274 – 829) claimed the team title by 27 strokes over Oral Roberts, and a pair of Red Wolves claimed the top spot on the player leaderboard as Zan Luka Stirn (72-70-64) and Julien Sale (72-65-69) each finished at 206 for the tournament.
Kolb turned in his strongest performance in a South Dakota uniform, matching Tolan's final-round 73 to finish at 219 (75-71-73), eclipsing his previous personal-best 54-hole total by five strokes. He finished in a tie for 15th on the leaderboard, also a new career-best and his second consecutive top-20 finish after tying for 16th at the Zach Johnson Invitational.
Up next for the Coyotes were
Jacob Michel (75-76-74) and
Ben Hicks (78-79-68), who tied for 36th overall with identical scores of 225. Hicks' final-round 68 matched the lowest single-round score for any Coyote this fall (
Scott Fudenberg's first round at the Ram Masters Invitational) and was the second-best round of his career.
Fudenberg rounded out the South Dakota card at 230 (74-80-76) for the event, and
Hunter Paugh, competing as an individual, closed at 237 (81-80-76). Paugh's 76 in the third round was his best single-round tally since his freshman campaign in 2016-17.
South Dakota will conclude its fall slate early next week at the Pacific Visit Stockton Invitational in Stockton, Calif., between Oct. 21-23. The Coyotes will then take the winter off from competition before resuming play at the Martin Downs Collegiate in Palm City, Fla., in mid-February.
