Lake Buena Vista, Fla. – Graduate transfer Adam Hooker continued his march up the individual leaderboard in Tuesday's final round at the Mickey Mouse Intercollegiate, advancing eight additional positions to lead the squad in a four-way tie for 13th as Western Carolina came home sixth overall.
 
The Catamounts closed the 54-hole tournament with a final round team score of 297 to finish just two strokes outside of the top five at Disney's par-72 6,870-yard Palm Golf Course.
 
Hooker closed Tuesday's final round with an even-par score of 72 to post a three-day tally of 2-over par, 218. Opening on the back nine, the Lebanon, Va., product birdied four of his first five holes in the final round and made the turn to the front nine at 4-under par. However, consecutive bogeys on the par-4 second and par-3 third relegated him back to even par. Hooker closed the day with an additional birdie against one more bogey for the even-par round. All told, he led the Catamounts with nine birdies over the three-round event.
 
Senior Magnus Pedersen slipped 15 spots in the final standings after shooting a 5-over par 77 on Tuesday, finishing with a three-round score of 221. The Moss, Norway, native tried to rebound from a 5-over par start through the first seven holes and did card a pair of birdies over the final nine holes.
 
Redshirt junior Pablo Hernandez slid 13 positions into a three-way tie for 40th at 224 while fifth-year senior Louis Theys jumped 30 spots with a team-best final-round score of 1-under par 71 to shoot 225. Hernandez paced the entire field with 41 pars over the 54-hole tournament while Theys was one of 22 golfers to card an eagle at the event. Rounding out WCU's scoring five was redshirt freshman Josh Lendach in a tie for 55th with a final tally of 227.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, senior Quinton Metz carded his best round of the tournament on Tuesday with a 79 for a 54-hole score of 242, tied for 85th overall.
 
Taking the top two individual podium finishes paced by medalist Matthew Larkin, Southern Conference foe Wofford cruised to the team championship by 22 strokes over runner-up IUPUI, closing the tournament with a team round of 284 for a total of 852 over 874. Queens University of Charlotte came home third at 876 with Belmont (880) overtaking event host Bellarmine (881) to round out the Top Five.
 
Larkin won by three strokes over teammate Harry Jones in the runner-up spot. Larkin finished with an 11-under par 205 with Jones finishing with an 8-under par 208.
 
Western Carolina returns to action in two weeks, traveling to St. Simons Island, Ga., to host the Sea Palms Invitational at the Sea Palms Resort. It's the third-consecutive season that the Catamounts have hosted an event at the beautiful coastal Georgia course finishing tied for sixth in the inaugural event in the COVID-altered 2020-21 season and placing in a tie for ninth a season ago. Pedersen and Theys are the only returning Catamounts to have played in both of the previous tournaments.
 
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6 – Western Carolina – 292 – 294 – 297 = 883 (+19)
T13 – Adam Hooker (3) – 75 – 71 – 72 = 218 (+2)
T27 – Magnus Pedersen (2) – 73 – 71 – 77 = 221 (+5)
T40 – Pablo Hernandez (1) – 71 – 76 – 77 = 224  (+8)
T43 – Louis Theys (4) – 75 – 79 – 71 = 225 (+9)
T55 – Josh Lendach (5) – 73 – 76 – 79 = 227 (+11)
T85 – Quinton Metz (ind.) – 83 – 80 – 79 = 242 (+26)