GOODYEAR, Arizona -- Gatlin Goad was simply brilliant in the final round of the Ruidoso Junior Golf Association's Palm Valley Classic Tuesday afternoon at the Palm Valley Golf Club.

The junior from Wheeler, Texas, carded eight birdies, including four on the Front Nine and four on the Back Nine on the way to a 6-under 66, vaulting him to a 12th-place individual finish.

Goad finished the tournament with a 7-under total of 209 after marking scores of 73 and 70 on the opening day of tournament play for his fourth Top 20 individual finish of the season.

MSU sophomore Seth Bearden rode his stellar play on Monday including scores of 66 and 67 to his sixth Top 10 individual finish of the campaign. The Crowell, Texas, native fired a 1-over 73 in the final round to finish with a 10-under total of 206 to finish three strokes off the pace of top medalist Adam Niles of Western New Mexico.

Niles fired scores of 67, 66, and 70 to close tournament play with a 13-under total of 203 to win by a single stroke over Fort Lewis' Ron Kildall (66-67-71 204/-12).

The Mustangs carded team totals of 279 (-9), 290 (+2), and 282 (-6) to finish fifth overall with a 13-under, 54-hole total of 851.

Senior Keaton Dickens (70-77-71) tied for 43rd with a 2-over 218, while fellow senior Robert Garcia (70-76-75) tied for 66th with 5-over total of 221 to finish one stroke better than Trevor Walsh (73-77-72), who tied for 71st.

Colorado Christian claimed the team title with a blistering 37-under total of 827 to win by six strokes over Western New Mexico.

Midwestern State competes in the Lone Star Conference Championship on April 21-24 at the Winstar Golf Course in Thackerville, Oklahoma.
 

RJGA Palm Valley Classic

Team Leaderboard

Pos	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Colorado Christian	-37	279	270	278	827
2	Western New Mexico	-31	278	278	277	833
3	Northeastern State (Okla.)	-16	283	290	275	848
4	California State, East Bay	-14	289	283	278	850
5	Midwestern State	-13	279	290	282	851
6	St. Mary's (Texas)	-11	277	286	290	853
7	Colorado School of Mines	-10	279	290	285	854
8	Fort Lewis (Colo.)	-8	286	283	287	856
9	UT Tyler	-7	285	286	286	857
10	Northwest Nazarene (Idaho)	+1	287	293	285	865
	Western Washington	+1	296	285	284	865
	Hawaii Pacific	+1	289	291	285	865
13	Colorado State-Pueblo	+3	295	286	286	867
14	Montana State-Billings	+4	289	294	285	868
	Cameron (Okla.)	+4	289	292	287	868
16	St. Martin's (Wash.)	+6	281	300	289	870
17	Lubbock Christian	+16	288	289	303	880
18	Texas A&M International	+18	298	299	285	882
19	Chaminade (Hawaii)	+19	298	295	290	883

  

Individual Leaderboard

Pos	Player	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Adam Niles	Western New Mexico	-13	67	66	70	203
2	Ron Kildall	Fort Lewis	-12	66	67	71	204
3	Bradley Mulder	Colorado Christian	-11	72	63	70	205
4	Lukas Taggart	Colorado School of Mines	-10	69	69	68	206
	Xavier Bighaus	Colorado Christian	-10	66	69	71	206
	Seth Bearden	Midwestern State	-10	66	67	73	206
	Arnav Arkanath	Western New Mexico	-10	70	66	70	206
8	Will Livermore	Northeastern State	-9	68	71	68	207
9	Peyton Jones	Colorado Christian	-8	70	70	68	208
	Adam Duncan	Colorado Christian	-8	71	68	69	208
	Seth Campbell	UT Tyler	-8	71	71	66	208

 

Midwestern State Scorecards

5	Midwestern State	-13	279	290	282	851
Place	Player	To Par	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
T4	Seth Bearden	-10	66	67	73	206
12	Gatlin Goad	-7	73	70	66	209
T43	Keaton Dickens	+2	70	77	71	218
T66	Robert Garcia	+5	70	76	75	221
T71	Trevor Walsh	+6	73	77	72	222