EUREKA, Mo. – The McKendree University men's golf team turned in its best round of the 2021-22 season here Tuesday afternoon as the Bearcats shot a final round score of 2-under par 286 as a team to claim the team title in the 18-team field with a 29-over par score of 893 at the Midwest Regional Tournament hosted by UMSL and held at Fox Run Golf Club.
 
Entering Tuesday afternoon's final round, the Bearcats were sitting in a tie for third place and with 10 holes to play in the final round, the Bearcats were in fourth place overall, before having its four counters play the back nine of Fox Run at 3-under par to overtake Indianapolis, Southern Indiana and Trevecca Nazarene on the leaderboard to win the team title at the Midwest Regional for the third time in the last six years.
 
The Bearcats final round score of 286 was the lowest of any team in the tournament and McKendree was the only team to shoot under par in a round at the event. For 54 holes, the Bearcats carded rounds of 305, 302 and 286.
 
"We have a young group, a couple of freshmen in the line-up and believing we can do it and trusting them," McKendree head coach Mikal Guffey said. "We put a lot of trust in them to go out there and play and be with the guys that needed it. They struggled with the green reading earlier in the day and talked about that at lunch and kind of trust the slopes around you and they did that in the final round."
 
Southern Indiana, who opened the third round by playing the front nine at 4-under par, finished the final round with a 292 to finish in second place with an 899 for 54 holes, while UMSL and Indianapolis posted team scores of 907 for 54 holes to finish tied for third place. UIndy was tied for first place after the second round with Trevecca Nazarene, who finished tied for fifth with a 910 for 54 holes. Trevecca Nazarene finished tied with Tiffin University for fifth place.
 
"We have won this event every two years the last three championships. It is always special, we love this golf course and always brings a good field with the top teams in the region," McKendree head coach Mikal Guffey said. "The goal at an event like this is typically Top 3 as it sets you up for the national and regional rankings. I'm really proud, especially to have the individual winner is tremendous."
 
While the Bearcats won the team title, the race for individual medalist honors came down to the final three holes between four golfers who were within three shots of each other with one of those golfers being McKendree junior Phasin Vichitcharoenpaisarn (Bangkok, Thailand/The American School of Bangkok). Vichitcharoenpaisarn, who was tied for fifth entering the final round, recorded a final round of 4-under par 68 to overtake Blain Turner of Trevecca Nazarene, Indianapolis' Oliver Mast and Southern Indiana's Jason Bannister to win his second straight tournament title.
 
"I have never won back-to-back tournaments before and it feels great to win this event," Vichitcharoenpaisarn said.
 
After carding an even-par 36 on the front nine, Vichitcharoenpaisarn began to climb the leaderboard as he opened the back nine with a bogey on the 10th hole, before playing the final eight holes at 5-under par as he tallied five birdies and three pars, including scoring birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to go from third place to first place heading to the final hole. On the 18th hole, Vichitcharoenpaisarn recorded a par to win medalist honors by three shots over Turner, Mast and Bannister, who each carded 4-over par 220's for 54 holes. In the final round, Turner shot an even-par 72, while Mast shot a 4-over par 76 as he closed by playing the final five holes at 3-over par and Bannister shot a 1-over par 73.
 
"I kind of knew, but I wasn't 100 percent sure as I hadn't looked at the leaderboard, but Coach was following me for a while and I thought I might have a chance," Vichitcharoenpaisarn said following the completion of the final round.
 
Vichitcharoenpaisarn's final round 68 was the lowest individual round in the tournament and tied for the team's single lowest round of the season.
 
At the tournament, Vichitcharoenpaisarn was tied for second in the event in birdies with 12 and led the field in par-3 scoring as he played the course's par-3 holes at 1-under par and averaged 2.92. He was also tied for second in par-4 scoring as he played the par-4 holes at 2-over par and averaged 4.07 on those holes.
 
In addition to Vichitcharoenpaisarn, freshman Fabian Wennerlof (Onsala, Sweden/Katrinelundgymnasiet), who was the Bearcats leader after the opening round, but fell into a tie for 14th after carding a 79 in the second round, before rebounding to shoot a final round score of 2-under par 70 to finish in a tie for fifth place with a 6-over par 222. After playing the front nine even, Wennerlof recorded two birdies and seven pars on the back nine to shot a 2-under par 34 on the back nine.
 
The third counter for the Bearcats was fifth-year senior Alex Gorman (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah), who carded a final round score of 76 to finish tied for 14th place with an 11-over par 227. Gorman carded rounds of 79, 72 and 76. Gorman's 72 in the second round was tied for the lowest score in the round for the Bearcats.
 
McKendree's fourth counter was freshman Thomas Tollefsen (Tonsberg, Sweden/Wang Toppidrett Tonsberg) who fired a 14-over par 230 for 54 holes to finish in a tie for 25th place. Tollefsen closed the tournament by recording birdies on his final two holes as he shot a 2-under par 34 on the front nine and a 2-over par 38 on the back nine to finish the final round with an even-par 72. Tollefsen recorded rounds of 76, 82 and then 72 respectively.
 
Senior Rasmus Nilsson (Stockholm, Sweden/Danderyds Gymnasium) carded a 242 for 54 holes to finish in a tie for 68th place, including firing a 79 in the final round, Nilsson shot rounds of 84 and 79, before his final round 79.
 
The Bearcats will return to course next week (Oct. 18-19) as they host the Bearcat Dual Gender Event at Far Oaks Golf Club in Caseyville, Ill.