EL DORADO, Ark. – Ben Carr shot an even-par 72, and
Luke Dasher carded a 70, the lowest round of the day, to lead the Georgia Southern men's golf team to first place in the stroke play portion of the Sun Belt Championship Tuesday at Mystic Creek Golf Club.
Carr (+3) birdied 12 and 13 and finished the day with five straight pars to take medalist honors by four strokes over Dasher (+7) and Seth Taylor and Zack Taylor of Coastal Carolina. It was Carr's second win this season and the sixth time the junior has finished in the top-5 in his career, which includes four this season. He earns the league's individual automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Regional.
It was the fourth time an Eagle has won medalist honors in the Sun Belt Championship since the school joined the league prior to the 2014-15 season and the 10th time an Eagle has finished first at the conference championship.
The top seeded Eagles will face fourth-seeded Coastal Carolina in the semifinals of match play, starting on the first hole tomorrow at 9:30 ET. The winner faces the winner of Little Rock vs. ULM in the championship match tomorrow afternoon. All three matches will air live on ESPN+.
Georgia Southern shot six strokes better than the next closest team today, and the Eagle counters sealed the win by combining to shoot 1-over on the back nine. The Eagles (+35) finished 11 strokes ahead of Little Rock (+46) for their third stroke play win since joining the league and third time under head coach
Carter Collins. Georgia Southern advances to match play for the fourth consecutive Sun Belt Championship.
Dasher birdied hole 6 and was 1-under through 10 holes. The freshman bogeyed 11 and 13 but came right back with an eagle on the 599-yard, par-5 14th and followed it with a birdie on 16. He finished with three straight pars.
Brett Barron shot 2-over on the back nine, including a birdie on 16 to tie for 14th, and
Jake Maples birdied 18 to shoot 1-over on his last 10 holes of the day to tie for 25th.
Scores
Team – 293-308-298=899 (+35), 1
Ben Carr – 72-75-72=219 (+3), 1
Luke Dasher – 75-78-70=223 (+7), T2
Brett Barron – 73-78-78=229 (+13), T14
Jake Maples – 79-77-78=234 (+18), T25
Mason Williams – 73-82-82=237 (+21), T34
Quotables from Georgia Southern Coach Carter Collins
"I am so proud of this team and the resilience that they showed this week. This is one of the toughest courses I have ever coached at, and they played phenomenal golf under big pressure. Big congratulations to Ben on his second collegiate victory. More work tomorrow - we are looking forward to the challenge, G.A.T.A.!"
Match Play Semifinal Pairings – Georgia Southern vs. Coastal Carolina
Match 1 - 9:30 am ET
Brett Barron vs. Tyler Gray
Match 2 - 9:39 am ET
Mason Williams vs. Seth Taylor
Match 3 - 9:48 am ET
Luke Dasher vs. Zack Taylor
Match 4 - 9:57 am ET
Jake Maples vs. Gavin Noble
Match 5 - 10:06 am ET
Ben Carr vs. States Fort
