Nichols Ties Program Mark in Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Josh Nichols carded an Appalachian State University men's golf 18-hole record 65 (-7) on Monday to take a five-stroke lead through the opening round of the North-South Invitational. The Mountaineers rank second at 291 (+3), four strokes off the lead heading into Tuesday's second and final round.
Nichols' 65 matches 2010 graduate Casey Johnson for the program's lowest 18-hole score. Johnson accomplished the feat twice, including at the same tournament in 2009. Nichols' previous low round came last fall at Davidson, when the sophomore carded a 68. The score is just one stroke shy of the best round shot by any Southern Conference player this season.
Darren Cook shot a 74 (+2) to tie for 10th place.
Dustin Hudson and Casey Komline finished two strokes back at 76 (+4) at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club.
Colin Hobbs carded a 77 (+5).
Competing as individuals, Daniel Walsh shot a 72 (even) and Jay Brown finished the round at 78 (+6).
Only team scores and top-10 individual scores were made available following the first round. Appalachian completes the tournament in Tuesday's second and final round.
Team Scores
1. IUPUI 287
2. Appalachian State 291
3. Cleveland State 295
4. Georgia Southwestern 295
5. UW Green Bay 297
6. Creighton 299
7. Florida A&M 307
8. Alabama State 308
9. Bradley 308
10. Butler 309
11. Eastern Illinois 312
Cougars Finish Play at General Hackler Championship
MURRELLS INLET, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's golf team finished 11th Monday at the General Hackler Championship hosted by Coastal Carolina at TPC Myrtle Beach.
Although the Cougars struggled a bit down the stretch they finished seven strokes ahead of No. 25 Wake Forest with a combined team score of 922 (+58) on a difficult golf course where the average score for the tournament was 77.86.
As a team CofC had 10 birdies for the final round and their top individual finisher was senior Coy Breen, who finished tied for 27th with a four-over 227.
CofC Head Coach Mark McEntire said he had mixed feelings about his teams play in the tournament.
"We made too many big numbers this week to finish where we wanted to," McEntire said. "I'm happy to beat Wake Forest but feel like if we had better course management we could have beat some other good teams. We still finished ok considering not counting scores from our number one player. I'm proud of the way some of our guys stepped up. We have some work to do before our next tournament."
The Cougars will return to practice this week and get ready for play in the Hootie at Bully Bay March 27-29.
College of Charleston Results
T27 Coy Breen 75-76-76-227 (+11)
T31 Alex Ellis 78-71-80-229 (+13)
T31 Parker Allen 75-76-78-229 (+13)
T59 Seth Stuart 81-75-81-237 (+21)
T68 John Duke Hudson 82-76-82-240 (+24)
WCU Men's Golf Finishes 17th at General Hackler Championship
Catamounts travel to Furman Intercollegiate this coming weekend
Murrells Inlet, S.C. - Western Carolina men's golf finished 17th at the General Hackler Championship which concluded on Monday afternoon at the par-72, 6,950-yard TPC of Myrtle Beach. The Catamounts shot 326 on the final 18 holes, concluding the tournament with a three-round score of 979.
Tied for fourth after the opening day, Augusta State shot seven-under as a team on Monday to rally past 36-hole leader, Virginia, to win the team championship by three strokes over the second-place Cavaliers. ASU shot 878 while Virginia finished at 881 over the three-round event. Auburn finished third, 12 strokes in arrears of the leader with Tennessee (893) and Pepperdine (897) rounding out the top five.
Henrik Norlander of Augusta State posted a five-under 67 on Monday for a three-round total of 210 to claim individual medalist honors, advancing from fourth place to win by four-strokes over Virginia's Amory Davis who shot 214. Andrew Putnam of Pepperdine was third with a one-under 215 for the tournament.
Freshman Jack Walsh led the Catamounts, finishing tied for 62nd after carding a seven-over 79 on Monday. Opening on the back nine, a double-bogey on the par-5 18th forced the Lawrenceville, Ga., native to four over at the turn with a second two-over par score on the par-3 seventh to move to seven-over for the round.
Freshman Collin Witiak finished tied for 78th overall with a 244, followed by classmate Michael Fitzgerald in 82nd (247) after shooting 79 in the final round. Rounding out WCU's scorers were Greg Bunner (86th, 252) and Trey White (91st, 273).
Western Carolina returns to action this weekend at the Furman Intercollegiate at the Furman University Golf Course in Greenville, S.C. The 54-hole event is scheduled for 18 holes spread over three days beginning on Friday, March 18 through Sunday, March 20.