' his year proved to be a challenging but successful year for Coach Phil Watkins' golf team. Having graduated seven players, the 1987 team returned only one player, Toby Taylor, who came with tournament experience. The season began with nine players, but due to eligibility requirements and other problems, only five men were able to play in all the tournaments. Those were Taylor, Cliff Hays, Scott Barber, Scott Moody, and Brett Biggs. Six matches determined the AIC conference standings for 1987. Harding held her own in the competition, finishing fifth out of the eight schools· who fielded a team. Coach Watkins commented, "For the team that we had - with lack of seniority or experience - we did well in the conference." The same eight schools competed for the District 17 title at Mountain Ranch in Fairfield Bay; this time the Harding men outdid themselves, placing second only to Henderson State University. "It was one of those things," said Watkins. In the earlier matches, we'd have good . individual performances, but as a team, we just weren't consistent. At District, it all came together.'' Consisting of 18 holes a day for two days, the District tournament determined what team and also what individual players would compete at the national level. Henderson's team went with their first place, but individually, Harding was barely behind, with two of the top three players in the district. Hays took the individual title in a sudden death playGolf. Moody, Biggs, VanDuran , Taylor. - photo by Don Strader. 140Athl~tics Golf off, and Taylor placed third, with only one point difference between his score and the second-place winner. As first place winner, Hays represented Harding at Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana, the site of the national competition. "It was great that Cliff got to represent Harding at Tri-State. He's golfed so well this season," said golf team member Thomas Van Duren. "He's always on target." So, for a group that began as basically a collection of rookies, the Harding golf team went on to become a strong contender. Said Watkins, "We've won the conference several times in the past, but I'd say that for the caliber team we had, this year's was one of the best performances I'd seen." - Toby Taylor Sheila Underwood Golf@' 1987 AIC GOLF TEAM STANDINGS Henderson State University ... . .47 University of Central Ark. . . ... 37 Arkansas Tech University . . .. . .35 Ouachita Baptist University ..... 32 Harding University . . .. . .... 28.5 Hendrix College . . . . .. . ..... 18.5 Southern Ark. University ....... 9 Arkansas College . ... ...... . . .. 8 Nonchalant? Coach Phil Watkins takes time out to recollect on the day's events. - photo by Bill Tripp.
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