Experience not Enough as Bisons Falter Harding 's strangle hold on the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference Golf Championship, that dated back to 1980, came to an end in 1984. The Bisons fought the very best in the AIC, but another windy and wet season hampered their effort. Returning for Coach Watkins were AIIAIC and AII-NAIA District 17 performer Didier Villard, transfer junior Kevin Wise , junior John Talkington, sophomore Mike Saeger! and sophomore Kevin Kowalski. The Bisons went into the first round with the hopes of placing well. The team finished third behind Arkansas Tech University and Henderson State University with a team score of 327 pOints. Coach Watkins was disappointed slightly in his team effort. "We didn't play well at all," said Watkins. "We've got to be more competitive." Saegert led the Bison Iinksters with 77. Wise paced the team with a 73 to tie for medalist honors in the second round of AIC golf competition. Finishing behind ATU and HSU the team finished in third place once again. The AIC race shaped up with Tech in first with 14 points , HSU with 12 points and HU with 10 pOints. The third round was played at the Little Rock Country Club. The Bisons were able to move into second place finishing behind the league leader, ATU, with a score of 329. Talkington finished with a round of 76, winning the medalist honors to pace the Bisons. Villard finished with 79 to back-up Talkington's performance. Going into round four Harding stood in third place one point behind HSU and five Sizing Things Up. Kevin Kowalski steps back to see how the bal/lines-up with the hole before attempting his putt. -photo by Public Relations Office. • Golf Team. Front row: Pittenger, Villard, Saegert, Wise. Back row: Watkins-coach, Williams, Tolkington, Kowalski. - photo by Public Relations Office. 148 Golf pOints behind Tech. The Bisons placed three golfers in the top five but still could only manage a second place finish once again behind ATU. "We had a much better team effort," said Watkins. With Harding's second place finish and HSU's third place finish both teams were tied for second place in the AIC race with both losing ground to Tech. The final two rounds were very important for the team since it counted towards the AIC title as well as the NAIA District 17 Championship and a trip to the NAIA Nationals. Things looked good for the Bisons after Friday's round. The team was in first place with a team score of 322. Then , things broke loose Saturday when the team shot a 340, finishing in third place with a two day score of 662. Villard narrowly missed taking District 17 medalist honors . With the third place finish , Harding's title defense had ended and so did the four-year reign of being the conference's best. The Bisons finished a disappointing third place, which had not been done since 1979. Didier Villard was honored by being chosen to the All-AIC. He also finished second among the individual AIC leaders with a stroke average of 76.6. fJl'& Steady. Kevin Wise concentrates on the putt he is about to make. -photo by Public Relations Office.
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