Golf Ties for Fifth at SoCon Championships, Wolfes Named Golfer of the Year
4/23/2013 8:55:37 PM | Men's Golf
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Georgia Southern golf team shot a 301 in the third round of the 77th Southern Conference Championships to move up one spot and tie for fifth Tuesday at Ralston Creek Course.
Scott Wolfes (right) was named the league's Golfer of the Year and first-team all-conference. The sophomore won two tournaments, placed first or second in five events and posted seven top-10 finishes. He is the first Eagle to win Golfer of the Year honors since Logan Blondell in 2009.
The Eagles (+45) moved past Elon (+50) and made up two strokes on Appalachian State (+42) but could not pass the Mountaineers, who placed fourth. UNCG made up five strokes on Georgia Southern to tie for fifth, while Elon (+50) and Samford tied for seventh.
Chattanooga (+20), which came into the final round with a 3-shot lead over Davidson, held off the Wildcats (+22) by two strokes. College of Charleston (+34) finished third.
Freshman Josh Lorenzetti from College of Charleston took individual medalist honors after backing up his second-round 69 with a 70 today. UNCG's Taylor Coalson fired a 70 to finish 1-over for the tourney and tie Chattanooga's Steven Fox and Davidson's Todd Eckstein for second. Fox shot a 74 today, and Eckstein posted a 72.
Chattanooga claims the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals, and Lorenzetti will get an automatic bid to compete as an individual.
Will Evans led the Eagles with a 2-over-par 74 and finished the tournament tied for 12th. Charlie Martin carded a 75, while Scott Wolfes and Hayden Anderson each posted a 76. Christian Humber shot a 77.
The wind was much calmer today, but it was chilly and breezy. The course played tough with tucked-away pin placements on almost every hole, resulting in some difficult putts. Georgia Southern could not overcome the score of 315 they put on the board in the first round that left them tied for seventh after the first day, 17 shots behind second-place Chattanooga and 18 shots back of leader Davidson.
"Obviously, it's not the finish we came over here for. We just never seemed to get any mojo going after getting blown off the golf course Sunday," said Georgia Southern coach Larry Mays. "I was proud of the guys yesterday for coming back with a solid round, but today again, a couple guys got off to bad starts and we couldn't get all five of them playing well at the same time, which is something you have to do if you want to compete against good teams and win tournaments. We didn't putt well this week, and that's something we'll have to work on and clean up."
Evans had two birdies and three bogeys on the front to make the turn at 1-over. The junior double-bogeyed 12 and birdied 15 to finish 2-over. He saved par on hole 18 by making a 5-foot putt after getting up and down out of the sand, finishing the tournament with a 225.
Martin's putter deserted him early today as the sophomore three-putted for bogey on the first two holes and bogeyed the first five. He regained control from there, playing his final 13 holes at 2-under par and posting birdies on two of his last three holes, including the par-5 18th. His only hiccup was a bogey on 12 en route to finishing the tournament with a 231.
Anderson started out with a birdie and played the first seven holes at even par. The junior double-bogeyed hole 8 and bogeyed 9 before posting a birdie on 10. He struggled at the finish by playing his final five holes 2-over, including a bogey on 18 after his ball hit the green below the hole, spun off and ran all the way down a bank and into the water. He finished the tournament with a 231.
Wolfes birdied three of the first six holes, but had bogeys on holes 2 and 5 to make the turn at 1-under. He bogeyed 11 to fall back to even par and posted double bogeys on 15 and 16 and a bogey on 17. He got up and down for birdie on the par-5 18th after flying his second shot over the green and posted a 227 for the tournament to tie for 18th.
Humber bogeyed his first three holes and double-bogeyed the par-5 6th hole. The junior righted the ship by birdieing holes 8 and 9 and playing the back nine at 2-over to finish the tournament with a 232.
"Even though it wasn't the finish we wanted this week, we had a great season with three tournament wins and did enough to expect an NCAA regional bid when they get announced May 6," said Mays.
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