Pride men's golf wraps up 2025-26 season at Heart Championships

SMITHVILLE, Mo. - Taking their second trip to the Paradise Pointe Golf Complex this season, the Clarke University men's golf team closed out their 2025-26 campaign with a 10th place finish at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship on Tuesday.

With the 54-hole tournament starting on Monday, the start of round one was delayed due to weather conditions in the area as they were unable to complete the fully planned 36 holes, pushing the completion of round two into Tuesday morning before starting and closing out the final round immediately following round two's play.

The Pride were able to improve on their team score in each of the three rounds, shooting a 311 in the first round, then scoring a 309 in the second round, and closing out the tournament with a 307 in the final round for their three round total of 927 finishing in 10th, four strokes ahead of Graceland's 931 for 11th place.

Missouri Valley College earned the Heart Championship as a team, scoring 855 over the three rounds, also improving on their team score in each successive round to finish 12 strokes ahead of runner-up Grand View University and 13 shots ahead of Mount Mercy University, who took the top three spots in the team field.

CU's individual scores were led by junior Brendan Pillion and freshman Brayden Becker, who each finished with a total score of 230 (+14) to finish tied for 33rd place individually as Pillion produced the low score between the two of a one over par 73 in the first round that included three birdies and four bogeys as he also finished with a final round 75 (+3) that included two birdies and five bogeys with an 82 sandwiched in the middle in round two where Becker's scores all hovered around the same number with a 77 (+5), 75 (+3), and 78 (+6) where his strong second round had the Mequon, Wis. native birdie four times.

Matthew Smith and Caeson Clarke were the other members of the Pride lineup to play in all three rounds with Smith finishing closely behind Pillion and Becker at a 233 (+17) with his second round finishing as his best with a 74 (+2) in the middle of an 80 and 79 while Clarke scored 81 (+9), 78 (+6), and 86 (+14) to shoot 245 (29) with Matias Brianso and Cody Leon sharing the final spot in the lineup each round where Brianso produced an 82 (+10) in the first round and an 87 (+15) in round two before Leon subbed in that spot to score 75 (+3) to help all four counted scores for CU to be under 80 to close out the season.

With two teams being added to the 2026 field from the 11-team 2025 field, the Pride's 10th place finish is an improvement on their finish from last season in head coach Brock Hartley's second season as he expects to return a majority of his team from the 2025-26 season with five of the six competitors from the Heart Championships being underclassmen and Leon being the only senior.