Men's Golf Southern Conference

SoCon Men?s Golf Championship Begins Sunday

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The 2015 Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship will be played Sunday through Tuesday at Pinehurst No. 9 in Pinehurst, N.C. This will be the second straight year the tournament is played at the par-72, 7,091-yard Jack Nicklaus Signature course, which was known as the National Golf Club last year.

This year’s event will be the eighth SoCon Championship played in Pinehurst and the second on Pinehurst No. 9. The event was also held in Pinehurst in 1937, 1939, 1948, 1969 and 1979-80.

Eight SoCon teams – ETSU, Furman, Mercer, UNCG, Samford, Chattanooga, Western Carolina and Wofford – will be competing for the league title and an automatic bid to the NCAA regionals. The 2014 champion, Georgia Southern, departed the SoCon at the end of the academic year.

The individual medalist will also earn an automatic regional qualification if he is not on the winning team.

ETSU, in its first season back in the SoCon after a nine-year absence, owns a league-record 17 tournament titles, last winning in 2005, its final season in the conference in its first go-round. Furman owns 13 SoCon titles, while Chattanooga is the only other current member to boast a title, as the Mocs have six to their credit, most recently in 2012 and 2013. Furman’s last title came in 2010.

Four SoCon teams enter the tournament ranked in the top 100 nationally by Golfstat, with ETSU leading the way at No. 40. Chattanooga follows at No. 75, with UNCG (No. 81) and Mercer (No. 86) also earning top-100 rankings. Mercer won the Atlantic Sun Conference championship last season, with then-junior Trey Rule taking the individual crown.

ETSU, UNCG and Wofford each won tournament titles during the regular season, with the Bucs and Terriers each winning one in the fall and one in the spring.

Western Carolina’s J.T. Poston is the defending individual SoCon champion, as he claimed his first league title with a 10-under 206 as a junior in 2014 en route to being named the SoCon Player of the Year. Now a senior, Poston enters this year’s tournament ranked 62nd nationally and sporting a stroke average of 70.86, good for second in the conference.

ETSU’s Adrian Meronk leads the SoCon with a 70.39 stroke average and is ranked No. 18 nationally. The Bucs junior and Wroclaw, Poland, native was named to the European Team for the Palmer Cup on Friday.

Poston is one of just four players in this year’s field to finish in the top 10 last season. UNCG’s Roy Dixon finished third in 2014 and was one of just three players to turn in an under-par score, while Wofford’s Cory Taylor (tied for sixth) and Furman’s Michael Borton (tied for ninth) also return.

The tournament tees off at 8 a.m. Sunday. Live stats can be found at http://golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=7208.

-www.SoConSports.com-