INDIANAPOLIS -- Samuel del Val earned All-American honors by making the All-Tournament Team as he helped lead the Berry men's golf team to a fifth-place finish at the NAIA National Tournament. The tournament was played over 72 holes at the 6,983-yard, par-71 course at the TPC at Deere Run.
Rallying from a seven over-par first round that had him outside of the top-50 individuals, del Val carded a 73 in his final round to finish with a four-day score of 78-73-69-73=293. That put him in seventh place overall and earned him All-American honors after he made the All-Tournament Team.
Friday's round was the highest for Berry which carded a score of 308. That gave the Vikings a four-day score of 299-303-291-308=1201. The Vikings were six strokes higher than fourth place Oklahoma City (303-301-299-292=1195).
Sam Vautier had the second-lowest round on the Berry team as he carded a score of 77 on the final day. He finished the tournament with a score of 76-80-75-77=308 to finish tied for 48th at the tournament which included a field of more than 150 golfers and 29 teams (17 of which made the cut).
The other three members of the team, Sam Curtis, Chadd Reynolds and Grey Haddon all shot eight over-par rounds of 79 on the final day of the tournament.
Curtis and Haddon both finished tied for 32nd with scores of 304. The freshman Curtis shot scores of 77-75-73-79=304, while Haddon had scores of 74-75-76-79=304. Reynolds was on stroke higher with a score of 72-80-74-79=305.
Oklahoma Christian won the tournament with a score of 291-298-293-299=1181. It was the first win for OCU, which had finished second in the last three tournaments. This year's second place team was Texas Wesleyan, which shot a score of 299-296-293-297=1185.
The individual low-medalist was Sam Cyr from Point Loma Nazarene. Cyr shot a two under-par score of 72-72-67-71=282 to win his second straight NAIA National Tournament.
The Vikings came into the tournament ranked No. 5 in the final NAIA National Poll. Oklahoma Christian was ranked No. 1 heading into the last tournament of the season.
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