PADUCAH, Ky. – In the first-ever match play competition to decide the Great Lakes Valley Conference men’s golf champion, the intense format provided a thrilling finish as Northern Kentucky earned its sixth conference title by defeating Indianapolis, 3-2, at the Country Club of Paducah in Paducah, Ky., Tuesday. With the win, the Norse earns the conference’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships.

In standard stroke-play tournament scoring, the Greyhounds were actually nine shots better today, outscoring the Norse 295-304. However, all five positions competed for one match point today, which enabled NKU to secure the crown. 

As the final pairing of Northern Kentucky’s Corey Richmond – the 2012 GLVC Medalist – and Indianapolis’ Aaron Monson approached the 18th green, the match between the two teams was all square, 2-2, while Richmond held a one-stroke lead over Monson. Both players’ third shots into the green came to rest 12 feet away from the pin in different directions. In fact, the two could not determine who was away to hit their birdie putt first, so rules official Dean Terry and CC of Paducah head professional Jason Stilley resorted to the tape measure and declared Monson away by five inches.

Monson missed his birdie attempt, giving Richmond a two-putt par to win the match and the GLVC Championship for his team.

UIndy twice fought back today to bring the match to all square.

In the No. 5 position, NKU’s Zach Wright carded a 78 for a three-shot victory over UIndy’s Rob Gleixner and his 81, but the Greyhounds responded at the No. 4 spot. Max Bowling put together not just the best round of the entire tournament, but the best 36-hole of the event, carding a 4-under-par 68 to defeat Northern Kentucky’s Jones Brown (77). In the morning’s second semifinal match against Bellarmine, Bowling turned in a 1-under 71 to give him a 36-hole total of 5-under 139 on Tuesday.

Prior to today, only one round dipped below par and that was a 71 from Lewis’ Harrison Carmichael in Monday’s final 18 holes.  Rockhurst's Tanner Bulejski posted a 71 for the Hawks' lone point in semifinal action this morning.

NKU reclaimed the lead when Steve Rickels’ 75 bested David Frank’s 77 at the No. 3 position. UIndy’s Jacob Yocum responded at No. 2 with a 75-79 victory over Michael Schmidt, setting up the thrilling finish at the end.

Both Northern Kentucky and Indianapolis advanced to the afternoon’s final round by defeating No. 4 seed Rockhurst and No. 3 seed Bellarmine by 4-1 scores, respectively.

Northern Kentucky’s sixth GLVC men’s golf title is also its last, as the Norse are moving to Division I play next year. UIndy remains atop the conference with 13 overall men’s golf titles.