FULTON, Mo. - The (RV) Owls of William Woods University played confident, successful golf in tournaments they hosted as they went 3-for-3 in home tournament team titles on the season after shooting a championship-winning 9-over 585 (288, 297) in the WWU Spring Invitational, which took place from Monday to Tuesday on the home greens of Tanglewood Golf Course.

Maybe even more impressive than that, the Owls have now won six out of seven team championships in competitions featuring the reigning American Midwest Conference champion, Columbia College. The Cougars took second out of 17 teams at the WWU Spring Invitational, recording a 587 (290, 297). 

"Obviously, Columbia is a really good team," William Woods golf coach Aaron Murphy said. "Great respect for them. Yeah, it always seems like it comes down to a few strokes with us two. It's always fun playing against those guys. They got a really good team and great respect fr those guys."

On top of that, WWU's 'B' team placed third with a 596 (293, 303), 'D' fifth with a 601 (296, 305) and 'C' sixth with a 602 (296, 306), while CC's 'B' team was in 10th, two spots above the Owls' 'E' team, which was three ahead of crosstown Westminster College.

On the individual side, Spencer Worley started strong, signing for the tournament's best round, firing a 5-under 67 on Day 1 with five birdies - three on par-4s, one on a par-5 and one on a par-3. 

"It was a good round," Worley said. "Surprisingly, disappointed a little bit, because it could have been better."

With stronger winds and more challenging conditions overall, Worley shot a 73 in Round 2, sinking birdies on the last two holes to finish with a 140, which set him up for a scorecard playoff with Columbia's Sean Minor for the individual title. 

"It was a good finish," Worley said. "I birdied the last two holes to come back from a few back, which was nice."

Competing for first on the first hole, Worley fell just short, finishing as the runner-up out of 92 golfers. 

Despite that, the Owls had twice as many golfers - every WWU team represented, outside of the 'E' squad - in the top 10 as the Cougars. Also cracking the top 10 for WWU, 'C' teamer Ted Einarsson posted a 146 (73, 73) to tie for fifth - CC's other top 10 competitor being one of the other four in fifth - and 'D' teamer Beltran Garcia-Espaju (70, 77) and 'B' Arthur Calmelet (71, 76) tied for 10th with a 147. 

Teeing off with some AMC teams in their final meet before the conference tournament, the Owls will take part in the UHSP Spring Invitational, hosted by the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis, next Monday and Tuesday in St. Louis.

Results

1 - (RV) William Woods 9-over 585 (288, 297)
2nd: Spencer Worley 4-under 140 (67, 73)
T-12th: Jose Monge 4-over 148 (74, 74)
T-12th: Liam Toole 4-over 148 (73, 75)
T-19th: Tim Falk 5-over 149 (74, 75)
T-40th: Brayden Buffington 12-over 156 (76, 80) - didn't count toward the team score

2 - Columbia 11-over 587 (290, 297)

3 - William Woods 'B' 20-over 596 (293, 303)
T-10th: Arthur Calmelet 3-over 147 (71, 76)
T-12th: Frederik Morch 4-over 148 (72, 76)
T-19th: Lucas Dvorak 5-over 149 (74, 75)
T-24th: Victor Vella 8-over 152 (76, 76)
T-58th: Sam Kliethermes 18-over 162 (79, 83) - didn't count toward the team score

4 - NJCAA DI Crowder 23-over 599 (299, 300)

5 - William Woods 'D' 25-over 601 (296, 305)
T-10th: Beltran Garcia-Espaju 3-over 147 (70, 77)
T-12th: Chris Cummings 4-over 148 (74, 74)
T-35th: Jaxon Green 11-over 155 (77, 78)
T-42nd: Britton Wineinger 13-over 157 (75, 82) - Round 2 didn't count toward team score
T-44th: Manuel Sills 14-over 158 (82, 76) - Round 1 didn't count toward team score

6 - William Woods 'C' 26-over 602 (296, 306)
T-5th: Ted Einarsson 2-over 146 (73, 73)
T-12th: Joseph McCandless 4-over 148 (71, 77)
T-29th: Eliott Auffret 10-over 154 (79, 75) - Round 1 didn't count toward team score
T-35th: Job Damen 11-over 155 (74, 81)
T-56th: Ethan McClinton 17-over 161 (78, 83) - Round 2 didn't count toward team score

7 - NCAA DII Lincoln 27-over 603 (294, 309)

8 - NJCAA DI John A Logan 38-over 614 (296, 318)

9 - NJCAA DII NC Missouri 41-over 617 (304, 313)

10 - Columbia 'B' 42-over 618 (313, 305)

11 - Central Methodist 44-over 620 (321, 299)

12 - William Woods 'E' 72-over 648 (314, 334)
T-42nd: Fernando Alvarez 13-over 157 (78, 79) - competed as an individual
T-44th: Luke Barchenski 14-over 158 (73, 85)
T-53rd: Evan LaPosha 16-over 160 (79, 81)
T-60th: Jeroen van Oort 19-over 163 (79, 84)
68th: Reece McMurdo 23-over 167 (83, 84)
T-73rd: Gage Simons 27-over 171 (85, 86) - competed as an individual
79th: Aleksej Milic 32-over 176 (87, 89) - didn't count toward team score

13 - Central Methodist 'B' 75-over 651 (320, 331)

14 - UHSP 82-over 658 (323, 335)

15 - NCAA DIII Westminster 103-over 679 (339, 340)

16 - Hannibal-LaGrange 104-over 680 (341, 339)

17 - NJCAA DI State Fair CC N/A (182, 200) - only had two golfers