Georgia Southern finishes fifth at The Invitational at the Ocean Course
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Georgia Southern sophomore Henry Mabbett carded an even-par 72, and the Eagles shot a team total of 297 to jump ahead two spots and finish fifth at The Invitational at the Ocean Course on Tuesday.
South Florida (+7) won the tournament, and South Alabama (+11) placed second. Kentucky (+12) and Georgia tied for third, followed by the Eagles (+33) in fifth. It’s GSU’s second top-five team finish of the season, and the tournament featured six teams in Golfweek’s top-100 rankings.
Will Evans shot a 76 Tuesday to finish 14th (+5) in the individual standings, and Scott Wolfes posted a 73 to tie for 17th (+7). Georgia’s Joey Garber followed his 66 Monday with a 68 Tuesday to win individual medalist honors, and teammate Lee McCoy fired a tournament-record 65 to move from 23rd into a tie for fifth.
Mabbett’s 72 was the lowest in his career as an Eagle. Hayden Anderson posted a 76, Drew Guffey, who played as an individual, carded a 79, and Kim Koivu shot an 82.
It was a shotgun start Tuesday, and Mabbett began his day on the back nine. After six straight pars to open his round, a bogey on 16 turned out to be the only blemish on his card. He birdied hole 2 to get back to even and finished the day with seven consecutive pars.
Wolfes started on hole 7, and three birdies and three bogeys left him even through 15 holes. He bogeyed hole 4 and parred 5 and 6 to finish the day 1-over. Evans was 1-over through 13 but collected bogeys on three of his last five holes to finish 4-over.
Anderson had a string of five straight pars early in his round and was 1-over through nine after a birdie on hole 16. The senior had three bogeys on his final nine holes to post a 76.
It was a rough day for Koivu, who carded three double-bogeys. The junior did finish strong with four consecutive pars to cap his round.
Guffey righted the ship after playing his first four holes at 5-over. He logged six straight pars in the middle of the round and played his final five holes at even par to finish 7-over.
The Eagles will cap the fall season by co-hosting a tournament with North Florida on Nov. 4-5. The Eagle/Osprey Classic will be at Deer Creek in Jacksonville, Fla.
Western Carolina finishes 10th at The Invitational at the Ocean Course
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Western Carolina’s J.T. Poston recorded his fourth top-five showing of the fall on Tuesday afternoon, rallying to finish in a tie for the runner-up position at The Invitational at the Ocean Course. Poston carded a team-best final round of 69 as the Catamounts finished in 10th out of the 14 teams in the field.
Poston led the tournament after the opening round, carding seven birdies among the first 18 holes of the event. He continued to lead through 12 holes on Monday, but was 3-over on the final six holes of the second round to slip into a tie for fourth entering Tuesday.
To date this fall, only one of Poston’s 12 rounds has been over par, and that was Monday’s 2-over-par 74.
Opening his final round on the par-5 11th, Poston quickly moved to 1-under par with a birdie but was back to even on the very next hole, bogeying the par-4 12th for the first time in three days. The Hickory, N.C., native closed his final back nine with two additional birdies, adding a fourth on the front of his final round to shoot 3-under 69. Poston finished the 54-hole tournament with a 6-under-par 210.
Sophomore Tyler Lail overcame five holes of bogey or worse with a trio of birdies, shooting 77 on the final day to slip into a tie for 38th in the final standings. Lail carded six birdies in the event while tallying a 54-hole score of 228. Senior Jack Walsh also tallied three birdies on Tuesday, falling three spots in the final standings to place tied for 60th with a three-day score of 19-over-par 235, his best three-round score this season.
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five were freshmen Evan Smith (74th, 241) and Nont Panayanggool (78th, 244). Smith charted a pair of birdies on the final day to give him four for the event, while Panayanggool had a combined five birdies.
No. 17 South Florida held off hard-charging South Alabama, which shot 287 on Tuesday to close within four strokes in the final standings in second place, 875-871. No. 39 Kentucky and eighth-ranked Georgia finished the tournament tied for third at 876, with Georgia Southern finishing fifth at 897.
Georgia’s Joey Garber, ranked 16th according to GolfStat, advanced two spots in the final standings to claim individual medalist honors over the two-way tie between Poston and South Florida’s Richard James, who led after 36 holes. Garber shot 207 to edge Poston and James by three strokes, as the duo finished with matching scores of 6-under-par 210.
Western Carolina returns to action this weekend to conclude the fall portion of its schedule, as it hosts the annual Hummingbird Intercollegiate at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley. It is the seventh straight season – and eighth time overall – that WCU has hosted a men’s golf tournament at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley.
This year marks the first year that the Hummingbird Intercollegiate will play out at an expanded 54-hole format. The event features 10 teams, including the host Catamounts, who are joined by the previous two event winners, Appalachian State (2011) and Samford (2012). Also in this year’s field are Belmont, Cardinal Stritch, Colgate, Evansville, Gardner-Webb, Tennessee Tech and Wofford.