The Valparaiso University men's golf team played the final round of the regular season on Monday as part of the 12-team, 88-player Wright State Invitational hosted at the Par-71, 6754-yard Heatherwoode Golf Course in Springboro, Ohio. The event used a six-count-four format. Sophomore Adam Melliere (Zionsville, Ind. / Zionsville) led the squad in the last tune-up before the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.
 
How It Happened

• Melliere was one stroke off a career best by carding a 69 (-2) on Monday. He climbed 14 spots on the player leaderboard on the final day to reach t-29, finishing with a 54-hole total of 214 (-2). Melliere did not have any bogeys or birdies during the final round, but did have one double bogey and a pair of eagles. He needed only three strokes on the par-5 fourth and ninth holes to go four under on the front nine, while shooting even on eight of the back nine with the double on 16 presenting his lone stumble of the day.
• All four of Valpo's counting scores were 72 or better on Monday. The Carmel connection of junior Owen Sander (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) and senior Sam Booth (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) tied for second on the team in Monday's round as both carded even par with each golfer notching his best round of the tournament. Sander's round was highlighted by his second eagle of the tournament, this one coming on Hole 9.
• Valpo's other counting score on Monday came from sophomore Elliot Lee (Tillamook, Ore. / Tillamook) as he used a 1-over 72 to conclude his tourney at 216 (+3), tied for 35^th overall and second on the squad.
• As a team, Valpo played far better on Monday than Sunday, turning in a 283 (-1) for its first round under par in the tournament. The Beacons finished 10^th of 12 at 867 (+15).
• The host Raiders went 25 shots under par to win the tournament, highlighted by a round of 14 under on Monday.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring
"We were a man short with our lineup and Anthony Delisanti staying back on campus to prepare for the conference tournament and allow us to evaluate the depth of our team prior to our championship this coming weekend. That is no excuse for the poor play that we had in yesterday's 36 holes. Our birdie production was very low, our putting speed was terrible and misses were numerous and the number of double bogeys and poorly executed shots was very high. We only had 22 birdies coupled with seven double-bogeys in the first two rounds for the four scores that counted. Lastly, we had two out of 14 scores at or under par yesterday on a scorable course and that's nowhere close to getting the job done."

"The team has shown resilience this spring and our scoring was improved today. We bounced back with the equivalency of 16 birdies in today's round for the four scores that counted. We still had to absorb four double bogeys in those scores, but our ball-striking was improved, our putting was better and the guys kept battling. Adam had an exceptional final nine holes, with two eagles and seven pars.  He had 15 pars on the day and he played very steady for us all day, tee to green."
 
"We have a short week before leaving on Friday for the conference tournament. We're going to continue to work on the speed and accuracy of our putts, along with wedge shot accuracy into the greens and hitting more fairways off the tee. Each player on this team has had a solid body of work that was built this spring, and now it's time to pull it all together and play our best at the conference championship."
 
Up Next
Valpo will tee off the three-day, 54-hole Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Sunday, April 20 at Des Moines Golf & Country Club in Des Moines, Iowa. A link to live scoring via Clippd will be available on ValpoAthletics.com.