2026 SoCon Men’s Golf Championship Preview

2026 Championship Site | Digital Program

WEST COLUMBIA, SC – The 92^nd Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship will be played April 27-29 at Solina Golf Club for the first time. The club features a challenging 6,766-yard, par 72 course.

Tee times for the first round begin on Monday morning at 9:00 and three 18-hole rounds will be played – one each day – until a team champion and individual medalist are crowned and tickets punched to the 2026 NCAA Men’s Golf regionals on Wednesday afternoon.

ETSU is the defending team champion and will look for its sixth title in a row when play begins. The Bucs shot 28-under par in Greensboro, GA, last season to win by 10 strokes over UNC Greensboro. The Spartans boasted individual medalist Colin Dutton, who earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals with a three-day score of 206 (10-under par).

Yannick Malik is the top returning finisher from ETSU’s championship, finishing one stroke back of Dutton last season with a 207. Gavin Tiernan (210) and Joshua Pritchett (212) are also back for the Bucs after finishing inside last year’s top 10 individually.

The conference awarded 18 Golfer of the Week awards this season through both semesters, and 13 different golfers captured at least one honor. Western Carolina’s Tyler Jones won four times, Furman’s Harris Barth won twice, and UNC Greensboro’s Kelvin Hernandez won twice. 

Jones leads the SoCon this season with a 70.24 stroke average over 29 rounds, followed closely by Samford’s Gavin Isbell(70.62), Mercer’s Henry Robards (71.26) and Barth (71.37). Tiernan (71.44), Chattanooga’s Ward Harris (71.56), Mercer’s JoseMaria Gutierrez (71.56), Malik (71.73), Western Carolina’s Jace Butcher (72.17), and Mercer’s Nathan Trodd (72.21) round out the top 10.

ETSU’s team stroke average of 71.33 paced the conference during the regular season, followed by Western Carolina (71.75), Mercer (71.88), Chattanooga, and Furman (72.45).

Chattanooga earned the highest team ranking from Scoreboard by Clippd, coming in at No. 67 in the most recent release. ETSU (81), UNC Greensboro (112), Furman (119), Western Carolina (124), and Mercer (150) are all ranked in the top 150 nationally.

Monday’s first tee will signal the 92^nd edition of the SoCon Men’s Golf Championship, which dates back to 1930 and features legendary champions in Wake Forest’s Arnold Palmer (1948 and 1949) and Furman’s Brad Faxon (1983).

ETSU’s Remi Chartier holds the 54-hole championship record with an 18-under score of 198 in 2022 at The Oconee Course in Greensboro, GA. Arnold Palmer holds the 36-hole championship record, firing a 136 at the Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, NC, in 1949.

Furman and UNC Greensboro will tee off on the first hole Monday at 9:00 AM to begin competition. Mercer and Western Carolina will lead off the 10^th hole groups beginning at 9:05 AM.