The Valparaiso University men's golf team posted its best round of the Hawkeye Invitational on Tuesday, closing out the event that was hosted by the University of Iowa at the par-72, 7432-yard Blue Top Ridge at Riverside in Riverside, Iowa this week. Redshirt junior Ryan Somerville turned in a career-low round on Tuesday.
 
How It Happened

• Somerville finished with a 2-under 70, outdoing his previous career low by one stroke. He eagled the par-5 fourth hole as part of a red-hot first 10 holes of the day. After starting on Hole 16, he was six under for his first 10 holes of the round with four birdies, one eagle and no boxed-in numbers.
• Somerville had his only rough patch of the day on a three-hole stretch from Hole 8 to Hole 10, playing those holes at +4 with two bogeys and one double. He ran off even par on each of the round's final five holes to finish at -2. His strong third round helped him total 223 for the tournament, tied for 28^th of 75.
• Junior Elliot Lee made a six-stroke improvement from his Round-1 and Round-2 performances with a 71 (-1) on Tuesday to finish at 225 (t-38). He birdied four holes and was par or better on 16 out of 18.
• Junior Adam Melliere had the team's third-best score on Tuesday with a 74 (+2).
• The Beacons played the final round at 292 (+4), the team's best round of the event by 14 strokes. That allowed Valpo to finish at 905, climbing to 11^th in the field. The Beacons finished ahead of Missouri Valley Conference foe UNI and former MVC adversary Missouri State. The Brown & Gold edged out Air Force by a single stroke for 11^th.
• The host Hawkeyes were team champs at 851 and had the individual medalist as No. 106 Ryan Shellberg finished 10 strokes under, holding off DePaul's Dominic Lucchesi for the title as Lucchesi made up eight strokes on the final day to finish at -9.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring
"We finished the tournament with our best round of the three rounds today. We're always striving to play our best golf as the tournament progresses, and the guys bounced-back well from yesterday with one of our best team scores of the year. Both Ryan and Elliot were under par for us today, and the two of them combined for eight birdies and an eagle. Their strokes gained stats in both approach shots and around the green were very positive numbers. Add to that, Elliot had 25 putts and Ryan had 29 putts in the final round. The sub-par scores are certainly a piece of a winning formula for our team, so it was great to see the two of them finishing the tournament so strong for themselves and our team."
 
"Our birdie production was much improved today, with the team making 16 birdies on the day.  It was really good to see putts dropping for all six of our players and that gives us quality momentum during our rounds. We still sprinkled four double-bogeys into the scores that counted, but the windy conditions for the third consecutive round were certainly a challenge to manage throughout the day. This was our second consecutive tournament with a lot of wind, so we can chalk-up six rounds more experience in those conditions. The guys stayed very patient throughout the round, not trying to force shots and staying in-the-moment for each shot. It was a tough day for us yesterday, but these are the types of rounds that we can build on and further develop our confidence. We have a quick turnaround prior to the conference championship, but we know what we need to work on this week to be better prepared for this coming weekend."
 
Up Next
The Missouri Valley Conference Championship will begin on Sunday at Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill. A link to live scoring via Clippd will be available on ValpoAthletics.com.