Patriots place 12th at Springhill Suites Intercollegiate Golf Tournament
FLORENCE, SC - Paced by Florian Sander's 3-under-par 69, Georgia Southern University rallied from five strokes down during the final round to win the team title at the Springhill Suites Intercollegiate Golf Tournament, Tuesday (Sept. 15). The 54-hole event was hosted by Francis Marion University at the Country Club of South Carolina's par-72, 7,062-yard course.
GSU wins the event for the second straight year by shooting the low round of Tuesday at 282. The Eagles finished with a 17-under 847 team score, the second-lowest 54-hole total in the 25 year history of the event. Georgia Southern passed first and second-round leader USC Aiken and Western Carolina University over the final round.
Western Carolina finished third two strokes back at 849, followed by USCA (852) and Furman University (861).
Francis Marion shot a final-round 298 score to place 12th in the 16-team field with a 876 tally.
Appalachian State University's Casey Johnson (69-67-71=207) and Elon University's Jayson Judy (70-67-70=207) shared medalist honors, while equaling the second-lowest 54-hole winning total in tournament history. Spencer Fulford of Georgia Southern (75-63-70=208), who shot a tournament-record and competitive course record 9-under 63 during Monday's second round, tied for third with WCU's Tanner Briele (66-72-70=208).
Francis Marion seniors Matt Jackson and Christopher Couch both carded 1-under 71 scores on Tuesday. Jackson tied for 17th position at 74-70-71=215, while Couch tied for 23rd at 74-71-71=216. FMU sophomore Ciaran McKenna tied for 44th place (70-71-80=221), while freshman Sebastian Backlund tied for 63rd (76-72-76=224) and freshman Travis Gantt placed 78th (76-76-80=232).
Francis Marion will participate in the Adams Cup of Newport, hosted by the University of Rhode Island, Sept. 21-22.
