Men's golf championship page
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The 2016 Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship will be played Sunday through Tuesday at Pinehurst No. 9 in Pinehurst, N.C. This will be the third straight year the tournament is played at the par-72, 7,091-yard Jack Nicklaus Signature course.
This year’s event will be the ninth SoCon Championship played in Pinehurst. The event was also held in Pinehurst in 1937, 1939, 1948, 1969 and 1979-80, all on famed No. 2.
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 individual medalist will also earn an automatic regional qualification if he is not on the winning team.
ETSU won its record 18th SoCon title in 2015, its first season back in the league after a nine-year absence, downing UNCG in a sudden-death playoff after the squads were tied at 2-under-par 862 after three rounds.
With ETSU and UNCG all-square coming down to the final hole of regulation, UNCG’s Jake McGlone rolled in a tough 25-foot putt to save par after putting his approach in the pine straw next to the cart path, putting all the pressure on ETSU’s Adrian Meronk. Meronk, who would go on to be named SoCon Player of the Year at the conclusion of the tournament, knocked down his 5-footer for a par of his own, sending the teams to a sudden-death playoff on hole 18.
The teams played the hole in two groups of five with four scores counting, with the first group of ETSU’s Meronk, Mateusz Gradecki and Tom Heggarty and UNCG’s Roy Dixon and Josh Stockwell all making par on the par-4 hole.
In the next group, the Bucs’ Rhys Pugh and Gudmundur Kristjansson also parred the final hole – with Kristjansson’s 40-foot birdie putt lipping out – leaving UNCG with a pair of must-have par putts after Taylor Coalson’s approach found water. Luke Haithcock’s mid-range attempt missed by just inches, clinching the title for ETSU.
Three SoCon teams enter this year’s tournament ranked in the top 100 nationally by Golfstat, with ETSU leading the way at No. 56. UNCG follows at No. 78 and Chattanooga, which finished third at last year’s event, checks in at No. 93. Furman and Wofford are just outside the top 100 at Nos. 106 and 108, respectively.
Furman owns 13 SoCon titles, its last coming in 2010, 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.
With the graduation of two-time winner J.T. Poston of Western Carolina, this season will see a new individual medalist crowned. Poston topped Meronk in another exciting finish last year, downing the Palmer Cup player with a birdie on the first playoff hole as the two finished regulation tied at 9-under 207.
With the win, Poston became the first player to win multiple SoCon titles since WCU’s Matt Cook in 2006 and 2008 and the 11th multiple winner overall since the tournament’s beginning in 1933. Poston was the first to win the event in consecutive years since Furman’s Ken Ezell won three straight from 1975-77 and the seventh to do it overall, a group that includes the legendary Arnold Palmer.
ETSU’s Meronk enters this year’s tournament with a stroke average of 70.67 and ranked No. 17 nationally. The senior from Wroclaw, Poland, is the only SoCon player ranked in the top 100.
Chattanooga’s Wes Gosselin brings a rank of 140 into the tournament and is fourth in the league with a 72.19 stroke average this year. The Wofford duo of Andrew Novak and Jeremy Grab should also be in title contention, as Novak is ranked No. 150 and leads the SoCon with a 70.53 stroke average and Grab is third in stroke average at 71.73.
Six players that finished in the top 10 at last year’s SoCon Championship are in the 2016 field. Meronk is joined by UNCG’s McGlone (third), ETSU’s Gradecki and Chattanooga’s Gosselin (tied for fifth), and Furman’s Preston Cole and Wehman Hopke (tied for ninth).
The tournament tees off with twosomes at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Live stats can be found at http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=10044.
-www.SoConSports.com-