-- 298· Golf Experience Returns Bountiful Results For Linksmen - Courtesy ofPublic/ly OffIce Emily Dickenson once wrote, "Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed." Although the phrase is applicable in most everyday situations, sometimes the best cliche to use is one exactly opposite from the ordinary. Take the Harding University golf team, for instance. The defending champion in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference, the linksmen enjoyed success at its finest, as they not only won their second consecutive conference title, but fared well in the first representation of a Harding team in the national championships. As in the year before, the conference race was actually a close competition between two schools: Harding and Ouachita Baptist University. Although Harding won the AIC rather handily, OBU seemed to always be right behind. The Bisons totaled 52 pOints to the Tigers 46, but Ouachita could have made it alot closer, had it not been lor a lilth place finish in the filth round 01 the AIC competition. Four of the six rounds were won by the Bisons, mostly due to the lact that they returned their top three golfers. Senior Brent Taylor 01 Bartlesville, Okla., who was runnerup in 1980 for the conference's individual honors, led a team that consisted 01 junior David Padgett 01 North Uttle Rock, senior Phil Garnett 01 Hereford, Texas, and sophomores Hubie Smith 01 Memphis and Collin LaFollette 01 Carthage, Texas. Padgett had finished lourth and Smith filth in the 1980 AIC individual standings. After all the individual scores were combined, Taylor emerged as the conference champion with an average of 73.8. Smith finished third with an average of 75.4, while Padgett averaged 77.2 lor filth place. All three were All· AIC and AII·NAIA District 17. It was the second consecutive year that the three earned AII·Ale honors. By virtue of the conference win, the squad made its lirst trip to the NAIA na· tional golf tournament at the Waterwood Country Club in Huntsville, Texas. "No Ale school has ever made the first cut .. coach Phil Watkins said belore the mee'1. "Since it's our first time in the nationals we'll be shooting to be competitive: Waterwood is a tough courSe and I'm expecting the scores to be lairly high." Thunderstorms and lightening played havoc with the Bisons' first round competition. They were able to get in the lull 18 holes despite a lour·hole interruption due to the inclement weather conditions. Taylor fired a 74 to lead the contingent while 8mith and Garnett both shot a~ 82. As a team, the Bisons stood 17th out 0133 teams while Taylor ranked 13th in the individual standings after the first round. . Alter 54 holes and three days 01 fighting bad weather the Bisons had survived the cut they were trying to avoid and eventually placed 16th overall. But the best surprise of the tournament was when Taylor, who shot a 75·72 in the final two rounds, finished with a 221-stroke total and slid down to firth place, which earned him All-American status. Watkins, who was honored for the second consecutive season as Coach of the Year in the AIC and in District 17, sum- ~ed u~ the national meet by saying, Our kIds played exceptionally well. They had to play under the worst 01 con· ditions, stopping and starting because of the rain, and still we finished higher than any other AIC team. All 01 the players did a great job." ~ 1981 Ale GOLF RESULTS HARDINGUNIVERSITY 52 Ouachita Baptist University 46 Southern Arkansas University 42 Hendrix College 34.5 He~der~on State University 29.5 Umverslty 01 Arkansas·Monticelio 23 University 01 Central Arkansas 20 Arkansas College 14 Arkansas Tech University 8 - Courtesy of Publicity ()ffIce
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