Western Kentucky freshman Riley Grindstaff tied for sixth in the field of 66 at the Pinetree Intercollegiate, his fourth-ever collegiate golf tournament. He posted a final-round 1-under 71 to finish under par for the event and clinch the best finish by a Hilltopper so far this season.

“I’m very proud of Riley for picking up a top 10 and for the way he responded to his finish yesterday,” WKU head coach Chan Metts said in a news release. “Stephen (Warren) also had a great showing to get his first top-25 finish on a tough course.”

“It was a ton of fun,” Grindstaff said in the release. “I went into the week not knowing what to expect other than knowing I would have to drive the ball well. I hit it pretty solid and played to my strengths. I took advantage of the holes that I put myself in position to make birdies and got some putts to drop.”

The Franklin, Tenn., native ended his Tuesday round with two birdies and six pars at the par-72, 7,108-yard Pinetree Country Club. Grindstaff ultimately tied for sixth, five shots back from the individual champion.

Junior Luke Fuller had the second-lowest score of the day for WKU at 2-over 74. Freshman Stephen Warren recorded his best finish so far as a Hilltopper after tying for 23rd. He carded a final-round 5-over 77.

Sophomore Connery Meyer had the Tops’ final counting score of the day at 7-over 79. He tied for 56th on the leaderboard while redshirt senior Thomas Hogan posted an 8-over 80.

Competing as an individual, freshman Elliott Pope logged his best score of the tournament in the final round at 3-over 75.

WKU finished eighth as a team after posting a 13-over 301 in the final round.

“I’m pretty tired of saying this, but we are just struggling to close out a tournament,” Metts said. “This is two weeks in a row where we put ourselves in position to move up the leaderboard on the last day and we have failed to do so. We were in position to look for a top-five finish today, but we had a train wreck of a start, and the wheels just sort of fell off. But this team showed a lot of fight to play the back nine near even par to try and salvage a little bit today. I’m ready to have another crack at it next week at Black Creek in Chattanooga.”