April 26, 2006
WEST POINT, Miss. -
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Sonny Nimkhum shot a 2-under-par 70 Wednesday and finished runner-up in the individual standings as UCF finished second at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club. SMU won the 12-team event by six shots over the Golden Knights.
"It was a good week for us," UCF coach Nick Clinard said. "We had a chance to win coming down the stretch and that was fun. Sonny played well and his score could have been even lower. I'm really proud of him."
UCF entered the final round in fourth, six shots behind co-leaders Houston and Memphis and two shots behind third-place SMU. Led by Greg Forest's career-low 5-under 67, UCF carded its best round of the year with an 8-under 280, but it was not enough to catch the Mustangs who shot the low round of the day at 12-under 276.
UCF played the front nine Wednesday 8-under but could not make up any more ground on the back side, playing the final nine holes even. Tulsa began the day in fifth, one stroke behind UCF, and moved to third after posting a 7-under 281. Memphis and Houston dropped to fourth and fifth, respectively.
UCF played in the next-to-last wave of teams with Tulsa and UAB and was the leader in the clubhouse until SMU, playing in the last wave, posted its 276 to overtake the Golden Knights. UCF finished the 54-hole event at 13-under and the total of 851 is the fifth-best team score in school history.
Nimkhum started the day with a share of the lead with eventual medalist Will Dodson from SMU and made the turn at 4-under after a rolling in an 8-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole. After missing a four-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole, Nimkhum made bogeys on the 12th and 16th holes to drop back to 2-under. Dodson shot a 7-under 65 and won by five shots, finishing the tournament at 13-under. Nimkhum's runner-up finish was a career-best for him and earned him all-tournament honors.
Forest played a bogey-free round and tied for 11th after beginning the day tied for 29th. Kyle Davis also began the day tied for 29th and moved into a tie for 17th after posting his lowest round of the week with a 2-under 70.
After the tournament, Forest and Davis were named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team, which was voted on by the league's coaches. "Greg coming through in the clutch was great," Clinard said. "It was great to see the freshmen really producing when it counted."
Steven Bain shot a 1-over 73 and tied for 22nd, wile Giwon Suh shot a 2-over 74 and tied for 36th.
The Old Waverly Golf Club was the host site for the 1999 U.S Women's Open and among the participants in that event were current UCF women's golf coach Emilee Klein and former UCF golfers Kristen Putman and Connie Masterson.