SUNRISE BEACH, Mo. -- Junior Lyle Burns (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour/Parkland) capped off a strong first season at Bradley, tying for eighth at the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Golf Championship, while the Bradley men's golf team tied for fourth overall Tuesday afternoon at the par-72 Club at Porto Cima.
The Braves shot a 301 for the third straight round and tied Evansville for fourth in the team standings with a 54-hole total of 903. Bradley was just two shots out of a tie for second, with Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois tying for second in the field at 901 behind team champion Wichita State. The Shockers ran away with the team title by an impressive 37 shots, finishing at even-par 864.
Burns placed in the top-10 of an event for the third time in four outings and earned his fifth top-10 finish of the year to tie for the team lead. His final round three-over 75 Tuesday moved him into a tie for eighth in the individual standings at 222. Burns finished the year with a team-best 74.52 stroke average for the fourth lowest season average in school history and best since Andy Mickelson had a school-record 73.28 average in 2002-03.
Junior Garrett Cox (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) posted the lowest 54-hole total of his career, tying for 13th at 225. Cox shot a four-over 76 Tuesday, to finish two shots from collecting his first career top-10 finish. Freshman Daniel Lensing (Spring Park, Minn./Orono) had the low round of the day for the Braves with a one-over 73 and tied for 16th overall at 226, one shot back of Cox.
Senior Seth Trolia (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) was the only Bradley play to improve in all three rounds of the Valley Championship and finished out play with a 77. He tied for 32nd at 236 in the final tournament of his collegiate career as he became just the third individual in school history with 30 sub-80 rounds in a season. In addition, Trolia finished his career with the second lowest career stroke average at Bradley (75.39) along with a school record 104 career sub-80 rounds.
Fellow senior Danny Masrin (Palatine, Ill./Jakarta International School) finished one shot behind Trolia in a tie for 32nd with a total of 237 to round out the scoring for the Braves. Masrin, who shot a final-round 79, moved ahead of Dave Wettlaufer for second at Bradley with his 94th career sub-80 round. He finished his career with a 75.96 career stroke average to rank sixth all-time on The Hilltop and his 74.60 average in 2014-15 ranks fifth all-time.
Bradley placed in the top four of the MVC Championship standings for the third consecutive year, marking the first time the Braves finished in the top four in three straight years since 1984-86.
Wichita State's Louis Cohen Boyer won the individual title and also earned MVC Golfer of the Year honors with a 5-under par 211 to finish three shots ahead of second-place finisher Garret Buckley of Loyola (214).
Missouri State was 14 shots behind Bradley and Evansville in sixth at 917, while Loyola was 18 back in seventh (921). Drake finished eighth at 923 and I-74 rival Illinois State completed the field in ninth at 929.
