Eagles Finish Second at SoCon Championship
Tied with UNC Greensboro through 18 holes, second place was left to be decided on the final hole. Spence Fulford (Rocky Mount, N.C.) parred the hole with UNCG’s Ryan Heisey double bogeying the par four hole.
“I’m proud of our overall effort and the fact that the team hung in there through the final holes,” said head coach Larry Mays. “For about nine holes there, we looked to be relegated to third place, but we stepped it up, made some birdies and finished strong.
“With all the adversity we faced as a team this week, I’m proud of them for their showing at the tournament. We were the third-ranked team entering the tournament and we finished second. Furman is a very solid squad to be beaten by and they are playing strong golf right now.”
Furman claimed the 74th title carding a 15-under 849 through three rounds. Paladin Austin Reeves took the individual title with a 207 (-9). Garland Ferrell of Furman, Ryan Heisey of UNC Greensboro and Jayson Judy of Elon tied for second with 4-under 212s. Georgia Southern finished two strokes in front of third-place UNCG at 865, while the Spartans tallied an 867. Elon finished fourth at 874 with Western Carolina rounding out the top five at 878 (+14).
Zabroske (Alpharetta, Ga.) picked up All-Conference recognition with Florian Sander (Bregenz, Austria) earning All-Freshman honors after his first season as an Eagle.
Zabroske led the team the entire season with a 74.43 stroke average at the end of regular season play, taking three ‘Top 5’ finishes and an extra ‘Top 10’ placement. The senior claimed two runner-up finishes at the Adams Cup of Newport Collegiate and tied for second at the Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate. He highlighted his season with a career-best 207 tournament total at the Augusta State Invitational assisted by matching his career-low round of 67.
Sander had a promising freshman campaign with the second-lowest stroke average on the team at 73.67 entering the conference tournament. With three ‘Top 10’ finishes, Sander posted his best showing at the John Hayt Invitational where the Eagle tied for fifth with a 1-over 217. Sander shot his season-best 54 total at the Gary Koch Intercollegiate in the fall. With rounds of 70-71-70, Sander tallied a 5-under 211 for the tournament.
Senior Zabroske’s five-under back nine highlighted the tournament for the Eagles. The senior parred the front half of the course minus an imperfection on hole three. But after taking the turn at 2-over, Zabroske fired four birdies over the first six holes sliding to 2-under with three holes remaining. Shooting 1-under on the final three holes, Zabroske capped the best round recorded by the Eagles in the tournament for a 3-under 69 and vaulted into a fifth-place tie individually at 2-under 214.
An up-and-down front nine capped by a birdie on nine left Fulford taking the turn at 1-under par 35. The senior evened his card opening the back with a bogey and erased a birdie on 11 with a bogey to follow. Fulford drew the round to a close with five pars and a bogey on 16 including the important par on 18 that sealed a second-place finish for Georgia Southern. A 217 tournament total placed the Eagle in a tie for ninth.
Sander, who finished tied for 15th at 219, evened his playing card on the front nine after a birdie to open the round with a bogey on hole four. After a level turn on the front nine, Sander proceeded to launch two birdies, holes 11 and 14, to drop to 2-under entering the final three holes. Sander moved to even giving way to the final three holes with a par, bogey, bogey.
With three holes to play, Matt Deal (Statesboro, Ga.) had parred the course with a minor blemish on two that left the Eagle standing at 1-over par. The senior shot 2-over on the final three holes to finish the tournament with a 75 and three-day 220. Deal finished tied for 19th alongside teammate Joe Monte (Chantilly, Va.).
Junior Monte looked to be on good pace firing a birdie on hole two but three bogeys dispersed between the front and back nine hampered the junior who stood at 2-over through 15 holes. Monte closed the back nine 2-over for a final 76 on the day. The three-day tournament witnessed Monte post a 220 (+4).
Georgia Southern will now await an NCAA Regional at-large bid which will be announced on May 10.
- Category: Golf
- Published on Tuesday, 20 April 2010 15:05
