Chattanooga finishes seventh at Carpet Capital Collegiate

ROCKY FACE, Ga. – Liam Johnston led the Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team to a seventh-place finish at the Carpet Capital Collegiate. Johnston shot a career-best two-under par 214 Sunday to finish tied for 11th.

UTC shot nine-under par 297 over the final 18. That put the 54-hole total at 875, which was three shots behind Wake Forest in sixth and one ahead of Tennessee in eighth.

The Mocs were 10-over par through eight holes before finding a few birdies. To that point, only Steven Fox had registered a birdie (on No. 1). UTC played the par-five ninth at three under on its counting cards to right the ship.

That started a four-hole swing with six birdies playing five under for the stretch. After a couple of bogeys and a double on 13 and 14, the Mocs posted three more birdies on the par-five 15th. The team played the par-fives at minus 20 (-8 Sunday) for the week.

Johnston was joined in the top 20 by Fox, who tied for 19th at three over (219). Chris Robb tied for 23rd at 220 (+4), while Alex Ratliff was two shots behind him at 222 (+6), tying for 31st. Davis Bunn ended up at 233 (+17).

Defending national champion Texas won the event at 13-under par 851. Georgia was second at 856, while Alabama was third at 865. The Longhorns’ Brandon Stone won medalist honors at 12-under 204. T.J. Mitchell (Georgia) and Jordan Spieth (Texas) shared a runner-up finish at 206 (-10).

Chattanooga is off until the PING Golfweek Preview on Sept. 23-25. The preview is an event played at the site of the NCAA Championship in the spring. This year’s event is in Alpharetta, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta.

The Capital City Club Crabapple Course is the site, with Georgia Tech the host institution. The field includes Texas and Alabama, the final two teams in last’s championship, along with five other teams that made match play at the finals at Riviera Country Club. In fact, all 15 teams in the Preview finished in the top 32 of the 2012 rankings.

 

College of Charleston third at The Invitational at The Ocean Course

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – In its season opener, the College of Charleston men's golf team got off to a great start in its first round of the year and is currently in third place and 10 strokes off the lead after the first day of tournament play at The Invitational at The Ocean Course, host venue of the recent 2012 PGA Championship won by current world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.

The Cougars shot an 11-over par 299 behind current leader and defending invitational champion Florida with a 289 (+1) and second-place Houston with a 293 (+5). CofC was paced by sophomore Zach Monroe, who made his Cougar debut with a 2-over 74, which placed him the top 15 individually and tied for 14th. Monroe is a transfer from the University of North Carolina and made two birdies on par-5 holes No. 2 and No. 7.

Three other CofC players finished among the top 20 after the first round, including freshman Daniel Kim, senior Neil Gowan and junior Alex Ellis. All shot 75s and are currently in a three-way tie for 18th.

CofC will return to action Monday as the second round begins at 8 a.m. and the Cougars teeing off at 9 a.m.

 

Davidson sixth at The Invitational at The Ocean Course

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Playing its first event of the fall campaign, the Davidson men’s golf team sits in sixth place following Sunday’s opening round of The Invitational at the Ocean Course, site of the 2012 PGA Championship.

Richard Fountain and Todd Eckstein each shot four-over 76 and are tied for 21st to lead the way for the Wildcats. Fountain was just three off the pace following a birdie on the 16th, but the 2011 SoCon Champion bogeyed his final two holes of the day.

Alex Nianouris and Samuel Echikson each recorded rounds of 77 and are tied for 28th, while John Skeadas III shot 79 and freshman David Sargent recorded an 80 in his collegiate debut, despite playing his outward nine one-over (37).

As a team, Davidson shot 306 (+18) and will enter the second round of the 54-hole event just seven behind third-place College of Charleston.

Florida fired a one-over 289 and leads the team standings by four shots over Houston, while the Cougars’ Curtis Reed (-1) carded the day’s only sub-par round and leads the 96-player field by one.

The 2012 field of teams includes: Akron, College of Charleston, South Florida, USC Aiken, Mercer, Houston, Florida, UAB, SFA, Georgia Southern, UTA, USC Upstate, Davidson, St. Johns and Texas State.

Hosted by College of Charleston, Mondays’s second round will begin at 7:30 a.m. Live scoring for the tournament will be available via golfstat.com.

 

Georgia Southern seventh at The Invitational at The Ocean Course

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Scott Wolfes fired a 73 (+1) to tie for fifth, and the Georgia Southern golf team is tied for seventh after Sunday’s first round of the Invitational at Kiawah at the Ocean Course.

 

Charlie Martin shot a 76 to tie for 21st, and Hayden Anderson carded a 78 to tie for 37th. Will Evans shot an 80, Caleb Morris had an 81 and Blake Olson finished with an 83.

The Eagles are tied for seventh with Stephen F. Austin and USC Aiken with a team score of 307. Florida leads the tournament with a 289, followed by Houston (293) and College of Charleston (299).

Action in the three-round tournament continues Monday.

 

Western Carolina tied for fifth at Golfweek Program Challenge

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Western Carolina's men's golf team opened its 2012-13 season by shooting even-par 288 on Sunday afternoon in the Golfweek Program Challenge being held at the par-72, 6,940-yard True Blue Plantation Course. The Catamounts finished the opening 18 holes tied for fifth in the overall standings, seven strokes off the pace.

Sophomore J.T. Poston led WCU by shooting two-under par on the opening day, standing in a tie for 10th after 18 holes. Poston rallied from a double-bogey on the par-3 third hole with three straight birdies to return to one-under through six holes. Two birdies on the back nine with one bogey left him at two-under 70 for the opening round.

Senior Kyle Wilson shot an even-par 72 on Sunday afternoon. Wilson turned in two bogeys with a birdie on the front nine to make the turn at one-over par before birdieing the par-4 13th to return to even, tied for 19th overall. WCU senior Steven Smith and junior Greg Bunner both shot one-over 73, with true freshman Tyler Lail shooting five-over 77 in his first collegiate start.

James Madison posted a seven-under 281 to hold a one-stroke lead over second-place Campbell at six-under, 282. Boston College is third at four-under 284, with Northern Iowa (287, 4th), WCU (288, 5th-t) and Austin Peay (288, 5th-t) rounding out the top six.

Play continues Monday and Tuesday in the season-opening event.