UNCG finish fifth at Pinehurst Intercollegiate
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. - Sophomore Robert Hoadley shot a 5-under-par 67 - the third-best round by any individual in the 54-hole tournament - to lead the UNCG men's golf team's advancement from seventh place to fifth in the final standings of the 16-team Pinehurst Intercollegiate on Sunday.
Hoadley, an All-Southern Conference selection as a freshman and more recently a semifinalist for the prestigious Sullivan Award, tied his career-best score, established twice in the fall of 2010. The performance elevated him to a sixth-place tie among individuals and paced the Spartans team, which tied for fourth in Sunday's play and claimed a top-5 finish in the Pinehurst event for the second straight year.
UNCG finished with a score of 886 for the weekend. That's one shot better than the Spartans' showing in 2010, when they tied for third.
Hoadley was one of two Spartans in the top 10. Redshirt junior Kyle Sonday, participating as an unattached individual, delivered the best tournament of his college career. His effort surpassed his previous best standing, a 22nd-place tie in the Reunion Intercollegiate in Madison, Miss., in the spring of 2009.
UNCG also got prominent tournaments from Will Almand, who tied for 16th, and Andy Knox, who tied for 22nd.
PINEHURST INTERCOLLEGIATE PRESENTED BY GATORADE
Pinehust No. 6, Pinehurst Resort (Par-72, 6,904 yards)
Team scores
1. UNC Wilmington 301-284-288-873; 2. Virginia Tech-297-289-293-879; T3. Penn State-293-301-288-882; T3. VCU 297-294-291-882; 5. UNCG-297-298-291-886; 6. Michigan State-293-297-301-891; 7. Richmond 295-302-296-893;
8. Radford 300-306-290-896; 9. Eastern Michigan 291-303-306-900; T10. Marshall 300-300-302-902; T10. Xavier 303-305-294-902; 12. Old Dominion 298-303-308-909; 13. Belmont 312-302-305-919; 14. Francis Marion 307-304-310-921; 15. Eastern Kentucky 309-329-303-941; 16. Western Illinois 315-314-313-942.
Individual scores
Top 10: T1. Josh Brock (UNC Wilmington) 74-69-69-212; T1. Matt Ball, Jr. (VCU) 74-72-66---212; T3. T.J. Howe (Penn State) 70-75-68-213; T3. Casey Olsen (Eastern Michigan) 72-69-72-213; 5. Blake Redmond (Virginia Tech) 74-72-69-215; T6. Bosten Miller (Marshall) 71-73-72-216; T6. Robert Hoadley (UNCG) 75-74-67-216; T8. James Ross (Michigan State) 74-72-71-217; T8. Kyle Sonday * (UNCG) 73-70-74-217; T8. Mark Jargren (VCU) 78-70-69-217; T8. Ryan Nagy * (UNC Wilmington) 72-70-75-217.
Other UNCG golfers: T16. Will Almand 72-73-76-221; T22, Andy Knox 70-79-73-222; T47. Colin Chapman 80-74-75-229; T74. Justin Clement 81-77-81-239; T80. Matt Younts * 84-73-85-242.
* Competing as an unattached participant
ASU Men's Golf Takes Fourth at Spring Fling
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. - Appalachian State University men's golf fired a consistent 300-301-305=906 (+42) to finish in fourth place at the Mission Inn Spring Fling over the weekend. Josh Nichols led the Mountaineers with a 74-73-74=221 (+5) to tie for sixth place, marking the sophomore's first-career top-10 finish.
Casey Komline followed right behind with a 71-75-77=223 (+7) for ninth place. Saturday's 71 marked the lowest round of the season for the freshman.
Senior Dustin Hudson carded a 77 in each of the tournament's three rounds to place 31st at 231 (+15) while Darren Cook placed 51st at 81-76-79=236 (+20). He tied Daniel Walsh, who shot a 78-81-77.
Competing individually, Colin Hobbs finished 13th at 73-71-80=224 (+8), six strokes ahead of Jay Brown. The sophomore placed 26th at 82-73-75=230 (+14).
Stetson swept the team and individual titles with an 885 (+21) as a group, paced by Sam Ryder's 72-70-70=212 (-4), which gave him the win by three strokes. IPFW finished in second place as a team, just three strokes behind the winners.
Appalachian makes the most of its trip to Florida as it begins the North-South Invitational in Jacksonville on Monday, March 14.
WCU Men's Golf 17th at General Hackler Championship
Final round set for Monday morning in coastal South Carolina
Murrells Inlet, S.C. - Western Carolina men's golf struggled through the opening two rounds of the General Hackler Championship, hosted by Coastal Carolina at the par-72, 6,950-yard TPC of Myrtle Beach. The Catamounts posted rounds of 328 and 325 respectively, to stand 17th overall with a 36-hole score of 653, six strokes shy of advancing in the standings.
WCU's golfers will tee off on the back nine beginning at 7:40 am on Monday for the final round.
No. 17-ranked Virginia leads the 17-team field by 11 strokes over the second-place tie between No. 41 Tennessee and tourney host, Coastal Carolina. The Cavaliers combined for a two-round total of 583, while the Volunteers and Chanticleers both fired 594 on Sunday. Auburn, ranked 13th nationally, stands tied for fourth with No. 9 Augusta State at 597, 14 strokes off the pace entering Monday's final round.
All told, the field includes seven teams from the national GolfStat top-50 rankings.
Kevin Hesbois of Lamar University trimmed 10 strokes off his opening round of 75 to jump 23 spots in the overall standings on Sunday, in the clubhouse with the individual lead by two strokes after shooting four-under, 140. Virginia's Amory Davis - ranked 90th overall as an individual - is tied with Sebastian Soderberg of Coastal Carolina for second, two strokes off the lead after both shot two-under, 142.
Freshman Jack Walsh led the Catamounts on Sunday with a two-round score of 159 which tied him for 64th overall. Starting on the par-4 15th, the Lawrenceville, Ga., native posted four birdies on his opening 18 holes, and added three on his second round to shoot 78 and 81, respectively.
Classmate Collin Witiak, starting on the par-4 12th, posted consecutive rounds of 80 to shoot 160 in a tie for 67th overall. He played his first eight holes at three-over par, but three-straight bogies on the front nine moved him to six-over. The Columbia, S.C., native birdied the par-3 fifth, but three-consecutive bogies to end his opening round relegated him to eight-over, 80. Witiak opened his second round at one-under through the first three holes, but a triple-bogey on the par-4 15th opened a string of three over-par scores as he again finished at eight-over, 80.
Rounding out the WCU side were freshmen Greg Bunner and Michael Fitzgerald, tied for 86th at 168 over the opening two rounds, while Trey White shot 85 and 90 for a 36-hole score of 175 in 92nd overall. Bunner was able to trim six strokes off his opening round score while Fitzgerald shot two strokes better on his second 18 holes.
Final results will be posted on Monday afternoon at the conclusion of the final 18 holes.
Cougars 10th in Competitive Field
MURRELLS INLET, S.C. - Playing in a field with 12 teams ranked in the top-100 the College of Charleston men's golf team is in good position heading into the final round of the tournament as they carded rounds of 309 and 298 and are in 10th place at the General Hackler Championship at TPC Myrtle Beach.
Freshman Alex Ellis leads the Cougars as he fired the seventh best second-round score (71) and is tied for 19th at five-over. Fellow freshman Parker Allen is two shots back at seven-over and tied for 25th.
Nearly every player improved their scores from the first round to the second round, including Seth Stuart who went from 81 to 75. Stuart's second round was highlighted by dropping in a 70-foot putt on the par-five sixth hole for an eagle.
CofC Head Coach Mark McEntire said despite not playing their best golf, the team is still in good position to have a successful final round and productive tournament.
The Cougars will play the final 18 holes tomorrow with Lamar, USC-Upstate and North Florida and will tee off starting at 9:00a.m. Live scoring for the tournament can be found at golfstat.com
College of Charleston Results
T19 Alex Ellis 78-71-149 (+5)
T25 Parker Allen 75-76-151 (+7)
T25 Coy Breen 75-76-151 (+7)
T49 Seth Stuart 81-75-156 (+12)
T58 John Duke Hudson 82-76-158 (+14)