RICHMOND, Ky. - A final round surge that produced the second lowest round of any team in the tournament spurred coach Pat Stephens' Eastern Kentucky University men's golf team to its tie for third place in the Legends of Indiana Intercollegiate earlier this week.

EKU, positioned in a tie for eighth place after the first 36 holes, rallied on the final 18, shooting a team total of 283, five-under-par. This moved the Colonels into a tie with Indiana for third with a final 54-hole total of 882 in the 16-team field.

Notre Dame and Miami of Ohio tied for the No. 1 spot at 878, but Miami won the playoff and was declared champion of the tourney.

"We had ideal playing conditions Tuesday and our guys took advantage of that to shoot a super round of golf," said Stephens. "We're tickled with our finish."

Leading the way for Eastern was senior Brandon Tucker who tied for third with an even-par 216. He won the tiebreaker for the third place trophy because of his low round of 69 on the final day of the tournament.

"Brandon had a nice tournament and Chad (Creech) came through for us on that final day with a two-under 70. That helped our team score for that round tremendously," Stephens added.

Creech finished the tourney with a score of 227.

EKU's Brad Morris tied for 15^th at 219, while Eric Willenbrink shot a 223. Junior Jim Milam, who won the EKU Colonel Classic earlier this fall, shot a 237.

"Jim has a lot of confidence in his game, but he put extra pressure on himself to do better and it just didn't work out. I'm sure he'll bounce back in the next tournament," said Stephens.

EKU's men's and women's teams will compete in the 36-hole Precept Intercollegiate, hosted by Austin Peay State University, Oct. 11-12. The tourney is slated for the Clarksville Country Club and presents a unique system in tournament scoring.

"Our men's and our women's team scores will be combined to come up with a team champion. We're going to try this out and see how we like it," said Stephens. Teams entered include Belmont, Bethune-Cookman, Findlay, Mercer, Samford, Tennessee Tech, UNC-Greensboro, Florida International and EKU.