Men's golf championship page
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The 77th edition of the Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship will be played Sunday through Tuesday on the Ralston Creek Course in Daniel Island, S.C.
The tournament is being played at Ralston Creek for the second time after moving there in 2012. The 7,446-yard course was designed by Rees Jones and has hosted events such as the 2011 Nationwide Tour Championship.
Chattanooga rolled to a 19-stroke win last season, finishing with the only sub-par score at 3-under 861. The title was Chattanooga’s first since 2009 but fourth in the last six seasons. The 2011 champion, Georgia Southern, finished second.
The defending champion Mocs are the top-ranked SoCon team in this season’s Golfstat rankings, checking in at No. 48 nationally. Georgia Southern is No. 53, while Davidson is No. 83 and College of Charleston is No. 91 to give the league four teams in the top 100.
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger capped his stellar career with the individual title last season at 9-under 207 and was named the league’s player of the year for the third straight season. His 11-shot victory matched the tournament record for winning margin.
The top returning finishers from the 2012 tournament are Chattanooga’s Chris Robb and Wofford’s Brennan Hudson, who were runners-up to Jaeger a year ago.
Also returning for this season’s championship are Chattanooga’s Steven Fox, Georgia Southern’s Scott Wolfes and Samford’s Casey O’Toole, who were among a six-way tie for fourth last year.
Wolfes, the 2012 SoCon Freshman of the Year, is the top-rated SoCon player in the Golfstat rankings this year at No. 41 nationally. Fox is the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and competed in the Masters last weekend. O’Toole earned an individual NCAA berth last season.
The team winner of the SoCon Championship will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA regional, while the individual medalist will also earn an automatic regional qualification.
The tournament tees off at 8 a.m. Sunday. Live stats can be found at http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=4218.
-www.SoConSports.com-