UNCG finishes third at USF Invitational
DADE CITY, Fla. – The UNCG men’s golf team posted its best 54-hole score in program history to lift the No. 66-ranked Spartans to a third-place showing in the USF Invitational on Tuesday at the Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club.
The Spartans’ impressive showing saw them defeat six teams ranked in the top 60, including No. 7 Illinois, No. 23 Auburn, No. 35 Mercer, No. 36 Purdue, No. 37 Memphis and No. 59 Ohio State.
UNCG finished the three-day event with a program-record score of 838, surpassing the previous 54-hole record by seven strokes (845) set in 2006-07 at the Sam Hall Invitational. The Spartans opened the tournament with a then-program-record 275 Sunday and followed that up with a 290 in round two before breaking their round-one record Tuesday with a 273, moving up three spots in the standings. The 15-under-par team score in round three was the fourth-lowest team score of the weekend overall. Florida State won the team title with an 823 (275-284-264), while host USF was second with an 833 (281-269-283).
Junior Roy Dixon and freshman Carter Jenkins led the way as they finished tied for 11th overall with 7-under-par 209 scores. Their 209 scores are tied for ninth-lowest 54-hole scores in UNCG history. UNCG was one of just three teams with multiple players finishing it the top 11, joining Florida State and South Florida. Jack Maguire of FSU won the individual title with a 16-under-par 200 as he posted a record 10-under-par 62 in the final round to come from behind for the victory.
Dixon opened the event with a program-record score of 9-under-par 63 Sunday. He followed that up with a 3-over-par 75 in round two before finishing it off with a 1-under-par 71 Tuesday as he posted four birdies on the day. He finished the 54-hole event with 14 birdies, an eagle, eight bogeys and 31 pars. His 209 score is a career low for Dixon, improving seven shots on his previous mark of 216 set earlier this year at the VCU Shootout.
Jenkins made the slow climb up the leader board all weekend, improving his score each round. He opened with an even-par 72 Sunday and followed that up with a 2-under-par 70 in round two before carding his best score of the event with a 5-under-par 67 Tuesday. His 209 score is his second-lowest 54-hole score of his career, only trailing his 203 score set when he won the Wolfpack Intercollegiate. Additionally, his third-round score of 67 is the third-lowest round of his young career.
Jenkins has now finished in the top 11 in five of his first seven events of his career. He posted 14 birdies, two eagles, seven bogeys, two double-bogeys and 29 pars during the 54-hole event this week.
Sophomore Taylor Coalson made the biggest move of the day for the Spartans in the third and final round, climbing 30 spots on the leader board with a career-low 6-under-par 66. Coalson posted six birdies and 12 pars in his clean final round to finish 3-under-par 213 overall for the tournament (74-73-66). His score of 66 is the lowest of his career, one shot better than his 67 carded this year at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate.
Freshman Jake McGlone finished tied for 44th overall with a 1-over-par 217. McGlone opened the weekend with a 1-under-par 71, followed that with an even-par 72 and finished with a 2-over par 74. His 217 score is the second-lowest of his career, just two shots off his career-best score of 215 set at the VCU Shootout.
Junior Alex Ehlert carded his second 3-under-par 69 score of the weekend, matching his mark from Sunday. He posted six birdies and three bogeys Tuesday in the solid performance. He had his second-round score disqualified for an incorrect scorecard signing.
The USF Invitational featured 17 total teams, including seven ranked in the top 50 in the nation. Joining the No. 64 Spartans in the field were No. 7 Illinois, No. 20 Florida State, No. 23 Auburn, No. 33 South Florida, No. 35 Mercer, No. 36 Purdue, No. 37 Memphis, Ohio State, College of Charleston, Wisconsin, Florida, Eastern Michigan, DePaul, Cincinnati, Marquette and Air Force.
The Spartans return to action March 9-11 as they travel to the Pinehurst Intercollegiate. The event will be played on Pinehurst No. 8 and No. 2 in the three-day, 54-hole event.
Chattanooga finishes ninth at Querencia Cabo Collegiate
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico – The Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team ended up ninth at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate with a 54-hole total of 897. Freshman Ewan Scott led the squad shooting 6-over-par 219.
Scott tied for 14th against a strong field. There were four top-20 programs and eight total ranked in the top 35 country. For the third straight day, he posted the Mocs’ low round with a 73.
Chattanooga completed its 54 holes one stroke ahead of Ole Miss and Lamar in 10th at 898. It was 14 behind eighth-place LSU.
No. 11 Houston (863) claimed a one-stroke win over No. 1 Alabama (864). Baylor was third (870), just ahead of Kentucky (872) in fourth. The Cougars swept the team and individual titles as Roman Robledo was a wire-to-wire winner, shooting minus-4 (209) and ending up one better than the Bears’ Kyle Jones.
Chris Robb and Davis Bunn ended up tied for 38th at 225. Robb turned in cards of 77, 73 and 75, while Bunn shot 79, 72 and 74.
The Mocs return to the tee next Monday at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate. The event is a two-day, 54-hole tournament with 36 holes starting on Monday.
Davidson finishes fourth at Davidson College Invitational
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Senior Richard Fountain finished tied for seventh individually to lead the host Wildcats to a fourth-place showing at the 2014 Davidson College Invitational on Tuesday afternoon.
A two-time NCAA participant, Fountain carded a second-round 75 to finish the 36-hole event at 149 (+5) and record his 16th career top-10 finish.
No. 48 Tennessee (293-294=587) tallied its second straight sub-300 round to capture the team title by 11 strokes over No. 24 Kent State (304-294=598).
Connor Hayden (Radford), who entered the day tied for eighth and four strokes off the lead, fired a 5-under 67 to claim individual medalist by one shot over Tennessee’s Oliver Goss (-1).
Sam Echikson, the defending individual champion, shot his second straight 77 for Davidson to come home tied for 18th out of 75 competitors.
Todd Eckstein (158) matched Fountain’s 75 for the Wildcats on day two to move up the leaderboard into a tie for 31st. David Sargent (156/T-25), Andy Simmons (159/T-36), Alex Nianouris (164/T-50) and Ralph Blasey (167/T-56) also competed for Davidson.
The two-day event was played on the par-72, 7,208-yard River Run Country Club layout.
In addition to the host Wildcats, the 14-team field featured Drexel, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Holy Cross, Kent State, La Salle, Longwood, Marshall, Presbyterian, Radford, St. Bonaventure, Tennessee and Wofford.
Davidson will enjoy a two-week break before returning to the course March 16-17 at the Seahawk Intercollegiate in Wilmington, N.C.
Wofford finishes fifth at Davidson College Invitational
DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Wofford College men's golf team shot a 14-over-par 302 on Tuesday in the final round of the Davidson Invitational, climbing the leaderboard to earn its first top-five finish of the spring season. The tournament was contested at the par-72, 7,208-yard River Run Country Club.
The Terriers came through down the stretch. Through nine holes, Wofford was 12-over-par on the round, but it shot just 2-over the rest of the way. Sophomore Jeremy Grab had the biggest impact, shooting a 2-under 34 on the back nine with birdies on holes 15, 17 and 18. Grab concluded the day with a 2-over 74, carding Wofford's best final round. He finished the tournament tied for 27th at 13-over-par.
Wofford took fifth place with a tournament total of 42-over-par 618. The final-round 302 marked the fourth-best team score of the day.
Junior Brannan Hudson led the way for the Terriers individually, earning 15th place in the 75-man field with a 36-hole total of 8-over-par 152. Hudson had an up-and-down final round that included three birdies, five bogeys and one double-bogey, ultimately carding a second 4-over 76. The Columbia, S.C., native also posted a 76 on Monday and earned his fourth top-15 of the 2013-14 campaign.
Seniors Chandler Brazeal and George Perkovich matched Hudson's 76. Brazeal's final round included three birdies as he shot even-par on the back nine. Perkovich was 2-over at the turn and added just two bogeys through the final nine.
Freshman Andrew Novak rounded out Wofford's performance, tying for 25th place. He coupled his first-round 7-over 79 with a 5-over 77 on Tuesday, completing the tournament at 12 over par. It marked Novak's fourth top-25 in his first seven collegiate tournaments.
No. 48 Tennessee won the tournament at 11-over-par, shooting a 6-over 294 in the final round. The Vols topped No. 24 Kent State, which finished second at 22-over-par.
Radford's Conner Hayden shot a final-round 5-under 67 to edge Tennessee's Oliver Goss by a stroke for the individual championship. Hayden had a two-round total of 2-under 142, making up four strokes on Goss after posting a 3-over 75 on Monday.
The Wofford men's golf team heads to Aiken, S.C., next week for The Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate. Play begins Monday, March 10.
Georgia Southern finishes sixth at Samford Invitational
HOOVER, Ala. – Charlie Martin matched his career low with a 68 in the final round to tie for fifth at the Samford Intercollegiate on Tuesday at Hoover Country Club. The Georgia Southern golf team moved five spots after the first round to finish sixth in the 16-team field.
South Alabama (+27) shot a 291 in the last round to move ahead of UAB (+29). Campbell was third (+42), followed by Belmont (+48) and Jacksonville State (+49). The Eagles (+50) posted a 304 in the second round and a 291 in the third.
The tournament, which was slated to be 36 holes Monday and 18 Tuesday, was changed to 27 holes each day because of cold and rainy weather.
Martin finished his second round Tuesday with a 77 before firing the 68, which was the lowest round of the tournament. Scott Wolfes moved into a tie for 19th after carding a 74 in the second round and a 72 in the third.
Matthew Mierzejewski tied for 32nd, posting 76-79 Tuesday, and Will Evans notched a 79-73 to tie for 35th. Caleb Morris shot 77-78.
The Eagles return to action by hosting the Schenkel Invitational on March 14-16 at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga. The tournament features five top-35 programs in this week’s GolfWeek/Sagarin Rankings.
Western Carolina finishes 12th at Samford Intercollegiate
HOOVER, Ala. – Hampered by a tough second round that was split over two days, Western Carolina’s men’s golf team finished 12th at the spring season-opening Samford Intercollegiate, held at the par-72, 7,001-yard Hoover Country Club. Catamount junior J.T. Poston led the squad with his sixth top-10 finish of the year, placing eighth overall.
Poston’s eighth-place finish is the 17th of his collegiate career but snaps a string of five consecutive top-five finishes this year. After carding an opening-round even-par 72 to sit in third place, the Hickory, N.C., native carded a 6-over-par 78 in his second round to drop into a tie for seventh. Poston came home with a 1-over-par 73 to shoot 7-over for the tournament, eighth in the running.
Poston finished with 10 birdies, tied for the sixth-most at the event.
Junior Matthew Turner advanced six positions in his final round, placing in a tie for 49th overall at 238 after shooting his best round of 3-over-par 75 on Tuesday. Turner carded a team-high 34 par scores to rank tied for seventh at the tournament. Freshman Nont Panayanggool slipped from a tie for 37th into a final finishing order of tied for 53rd after a final-round 79. Panayanggool shot 239 for the two-day event.
Transfer Braydon Obremski rebounded from his opening-round battle to shoot consecutive rounds of 79, advancing into a tie for 80th (248) at the end of play, while freshman Evan Smith slipped to 84th in the field with a three-round score of 253.
WCU was in a four-way tie for ninth place after 36 holes were recorded, deadlocked with Eastern Kentucky, Francis Marion and Western Kentucky at 631.
UAB entered the second round of competition with a 16-stroke advantage over South Alabama. However, the Jaguars rallied back to win the tournament team title by two strokes over the Blazers, 891-893. Campbell finished third at 906 with Belmont (912) and Jacksonville State (913) rounded out the top five.
Western Carolina returns to Alabama in one week for the Tiger Invitational, hosted by Auburn University at Grand National in Opelika, Ala.
Samford finishes 13th at Samford Intercollegiate
HOOVER, Ala. – The Samford University men’s golf team turned in its best performance of the two-day, three-round Samford Intercollegiate on Tuesday as the Bulldogs posted a final-round score of 304 at the Hoover Country Club. Samford’s third-round tally proved to be 13 strokes better than its previous best mark of 317, which was registered Monday.
Playing conditions were better Tuesday at the 2014 Samford Intercollegiate but were still some of the most challenging circumstances of the young spring season. Temperatures ranged in the mid-to-upper 30s all day, but the course was void of Monday’s blistering wind.
Samford carded a total team score of 939 and concluded the two-day tournament in 13th place against some stiff competition.
Individually, the Bulldogs’ true freshmen Robert Adams and Garrett Moores paced the team with identical cards of 230. Samford’s pair concluded the tournament tied for 25th place out of 90 competitors.
Senior William Catanzaro registered a 54-hole tally of 238 (77-84-77) on Tuesday, while junior Zach Hughes posted a 243 (84-81-78) and Mac Hennessy notched a three-round mark of 245 (82-84-79).
Along with Samford, the teams competing in this week’s Samford Intercollegiate included Austin Peay, Campbell, Belmont, Bowling Green, Eastern Kentucky, Francis Marion, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State, Miles College, Montevallo, South Alabama, Southern Illinois, UAB, Western Carolina and Western Kentucky.
UAB entered the second round of competition with a 16-stroke advantage over South Alabama, but the Jaguars rallied back to win the tournament team title by two strokes. South Alabama claimed the title with a score of 891, while UAB posted an 893 and Campbell placed third at 906.
Individually, UAB’s Paul Dunne carded a three-round score of even-par 216 and garnered individual medalist honors. Dunne blew away the competition this week and outpaced teammate Thomas Sutton and South Alabama’s Lane Hulse by five strokes.
The Samford University men’s golf team will next be in action Monday and Tuesday as the Bulldogs continue play in their 2014 spring season at the Auburn Tiger Invitational, which will be held at the Grand National Golf Course in Opelika, Ala.