300 Golf Talk Abouy< Golf Golfers Sweep Conference Match / golf 1980 AIC GOLF RESULTS HARDING UNIVERSITY 42.5 Ouachita Baptist University 41 Southern Arkansas University 36 Hendrix Coliege 28.5 Arkansas College 24 Arkansas Tech Uni versity 18 Henderson State Universit y 8 Uni versity of Central Arkansas 7 University of Arkansas-Monticello 0 The year 1980 was filled with eXCItIng finishes for the Harding golfers. Proving the whole Ale wrong. the Bison linksmen came from a three stroke deficit on the last hole of the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship match to drop perennial Ouachita Baptist Uni versity 'for the conference trophy. Throughout the long road to the championship, the Bisons and the OBU Tigers see-sawed back and forth for the lead in the standi ngs. After many matches in the climb, the title was to be decided in the final round. Ouachita hampered the Bisons and took that three stroke lead on the eighteenth hole. It appeared the Tigers were destined to win the championship once again. But the Harding golfers picked up four strokes on the hole thanks to birdies by freshmen Hubie Smith of Memphis and Brent Taylor of Bartlesville, Oklahoma plus an eagle by David Padgett. AU Ouachita could muster was a double-bogey on the hole. "We got a good break along with our great play in the final rounds, " Coach Phil Watkins said. "One of the Ouachita players actually ended up with his ball stuck in a tree. " Despite the Bison heroics, the margin of victory for the title was, at its largest, infinitesimal - 42.5 for Harding, 41 for Ouachita. "This is a tremendous experience," said Watkins. "I t would have been easy for our boys to quit when we were nine strokes behind but our boys really responded to the challenge and played great pressure golf. Some of the other schools kind of feU apart. ;: The AIC was just more icing for the Bison linksmen. Taylor, Padgett and Smith took three of the seven All-AIC spots and Taylor finished second in the AIC individual competition for the second year in a row. In addition, Watkins was selected 1980 AIC Coach of the Year by majority vote of the league coaches. He credited the team's success to two major factors: hard work and the fact that they won their first conference match of the season against OBU. This, said Watkins, gave the team the momentum they needed and stole that valuable commodity from their rivals. The AIC 1980 Cliff Shaw ScholarAthlete Award also went to a Harding golfer. Dan Sears , who graduated summa cum laude with a 3.976 grade point average, earned two intercollegiate golf letters. 1. GOLF TEAM. Front Row: Wooten, Taylor, West, Padgett. Hendricks, Smith. Buck Row: Walkins-Coach, Head. Sears, Goree. Ralston, Wade. Garnel!. 2.-4. WARMING UP in front of the clubhouse before a match. David Padgel! is interrupted by a non-golfing friend. - Courtesy 0/ PublicilJ; Office
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