Kristjansson wins Seminole Intercollegiate, ETSU second
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – ETSU junior Gudmundur Kristjansson capped off a wire-to-wire win as the Buccaneer captured his first collegiate victory on Sunday afternoon at the Seminole Intercollegiate.
Kristjansson, who tied an ETSU single-round record with a 63 on Friday, held off a valiant comeback by Florida State’s Jack Maguire and South Carolina’s Will Starke to earn medalist honors after finishing with a 54-hole score of 17-under-par 199 (63-67-69) at the Southwood Golf Course.
The Reykjavik, Iceland, native entered Sunday’s final round with a seven-shot lead over Starke – the No. 11 ranked golfer by Golfstat – and defeated Maguire by three strokes and Starke by four. Maguire was playing ahead of Kristjansson and eventually pulled within a shot of the leader, but the ETSU junior held off the 22nd-ranked golfer by birdying two of his final three holes en route to carding a 3-under 69 on Sunday.
Kristjansson’s birdie putt on No. 18 moved ETSU past No. 8 South Carolina for a second-place finish.
The 41st-ranked Buccaneers began the day with a two-shot lead over the Gamecocks; however, it was tournament host Florida State who rallied for the win. The second-ranked Seminoles fired a 17-under 271 on Sunday and finished the tournament at 21-under-par 843.
ETSU shot 6-under 282 in the final round and ended the three-day tournament at 18-under-par 846. As a group, the Bucs tallied 52 birdies and tied with South Carolina for the most eagles with three.
Junior Adrian Meronk had two of ETSU’s three eagles on the weekend and finished sixth at 8-under-par 208 (71-67-70). Meronk played the front nine at even-par on Sunday and recorded his second eagle of the tournament on the par-5, 541-yard 16th to finish the round at 2-under 70.
Meanwhile, sophomore Mateusz Gradecki finished on a positive note as he fired a 4-under 68 in the final round and tied for 34th at even-par 216 (71-77-68).
The Bucs return to action at the Mason Rudolph Championship, which will be held April 3-5 in Franklin, Tenn.
Mercer finishes ninth at Seminole Intercollegiate
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Mercer senior Trey Rule shot a 1-under-par 71 on the final day of the Seminole Intercollegiate to record his fourth top-10 finish of the season, leading the Bears to ninth place in the team standings.
Mercer tallied a 4-over 292 to wrap up the tournament with a total score of 861, the program’s top mark since winning the 2014 Seminole Intercollegiate with a three-day total of 856. No. 2 Florida State shot a 17-under 271 on the final day to claim the team title, while ETSU and No. 8 South Carolina rounded out the top three.
Rule notched three birdies in Sunday’s closing round to finish in a tie for ninth place with a 5-under 211 for the tournament. Emmanuel Kountakis rebounded with an even-par 72 this morning to tie teammate Sean Smothers for 34th place, as Smothers carded a 4-over 76 on his way to a total score of 216.
Jerry Ren finished third on the team in the closing round with a 1-over score of 73 to place 44th overall, while Jeffrey Heinicka fired a 76 on Sunday en route to his best three-round total of the season.
Mercer will be back in action next weekend, as it co-hosts the Linger Longer Invitational with Kennesaw State at Great Waters Golf Club in Eatonton, Ga.