The Valparaiso University men's golf team wrapped up the fall slate with the Purdue Fall Invitational, which concluded with the third and final round on Tuesday at the par-72, 7465-yard Kampen-Cosler Golf Course in West Lafayette, Ind. Junior Elliot Lee (Tillamook, Ore. / Tillamook) and freshman Charlie Davenport (Clarendon Hills, Ill. / Benet Academy) led the team by carding even par rounds on Tuesday.
 
How It Happened

• Junior Adam Melliere (Zionsville, Ind. / Zionsville) had the top 54-hole tournament score of any member of the lineup, closing the event with a 223 including a 75 on Tuesday. He tied for 37^th in a 78-player field.
• Lee, Davenport and sophomore Rodrigo Garcia Teruel (Puebla, Mexico / Modern Academy) were all part of t-66 at 232.
• After bogeying two of his first three holes, Davenport played the rest of Tuesday's round at -2. He birdied three out of four holes from 14-17, before he finished on the front nine by carding even par on all nine holes.
• Lee also played his best golf of the tournament over his final nine holes on Tuesday. He stroked a 2-under 34 on those nine holes, with birdies on Holes 4 and 5 and par or better on all nine.
• The team had its best round of the tournament at 297 (+9), finishing the event in 15^th at 914. In Tuesday's round, the Beacons beat Southern Illinois, Ohio, South Dakota State and Purdue Fort Wayne and tied Loyola Chicago.
• Host Purdue won the tournament at 839, while SIU's Anthony De Schutter was the medalist at 210.
• In addition to the 54-hole team tournament, Purdue hosted a separate 36-hole tournament for individuals not part of the team lineup this week. The four Beacons not playing in the team event golfed 18 holes each day, led by senior Owen Sander (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) with a 146 (+4). He tied for sixth in the individual tournament. In Tuesday's round, Brayden Fetzer (Trumbull, Conn.) had a team-best 71 (E) including a 3-under 33 on the front nine with birdies on four of the nine holes. Sander, Fetzer and Ryan Somerville (Aurora, Ontario / Aurora) all notched top-10 finishes in the individual tournament.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring
"We wrapped up our fall season today with our best round of the three at the Purdue Fall Invitational. We were led by Elliot Lee and Charlie Davenport with even par rounds for both of them. Elliot led our team with four birdies and Charlie had three. Despite a little bit of a slow start for both of them in the first five holes, their ball-striking was solid and they putted well on the greens. Adam Melliere had another good round for us, despite starting the day with three bogeys. His ball-striking was very solid for the entire tournament and he gave himself a lot of good opportunities for birdies."
 
"The team had 12 birdies on the day, but we still left a lot of scoring opportunities out there. We will certainly spend a lot of time this offseason working on our putting accuracy and speed. I was pleased with our finish to the tournament, with the guys that scored for us playing the final nine holes at one over. We had dug ourselves such a huge hole to start the tournament, but the team stayed resilient and kept playing hard until the end of the tournament. We have a lot of work to do this offseason and the guys are ready to get after it."
 
Up Next
The Beacons will tee off the spring season on Monday, Feb. 9 at the Lake Jovita Invitational, hosted by Ball State and Richmond at Jake Jovita Golf & Country Club in Dade City, Fla.