FLORENCE, S.C. – UNC Greensboro junior
Will Bowman shot a final round 73 to finish fifth at the 73rd
Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship at the Country
Club of South Carolina on Tuesday.
Last year, Bowman, a product of Greensboro, NC and Forsyth Country
Day, finished tied for 20th place. Bowman’s 73 helped the
Spartans to an eighth-place finish as a team. UNCG finished with a
team score of 901 for the 54-hole tournament, shooting 307 on the
final day. Bowman finished the 54-hole event at 213, two shots off
of his career-best set earlier this season. It was the second Top 5
finish of the season for Bowman.
Chattanooga won the team title with a score of 852 to receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Mocs were two shots better than Georgia Southern and 12 ahead of Western Carolina.
Georgia Southern’s Drew Lethem rallied down the stretch to win the individual title. Lethem, the clubhouse leader the last two days, lost his lead briefly on Tuesday, but came back in the final few holes to win. By way of a new selection procedure this year, Lethem gains an individual automatic slot into the NCAA Tournament should Georgia Southern not receive an at-large bid. Lethem finished at 210, one shot better than Western Carolina’s Tanner Briele and Chattanooga’s Fredrik Qvicker.
Georgia Southern’s Logan Blondell, the fourth-place finisher who was voted as the league’s Player of the Year. Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger was named SoCon Freshman of the Year while Georgia Southern head coach Larry Mays was voted as the Coach of the Year by his peers.
Joining Blondell on the all-conference team were Lethem, Chattanooga’s Ben Rickett, Derek Rende and Jaeger, Davidson’s Michael Saari, Furman’s Daniel Bowden, Western Carolina Andres Cuenca, Wofford’s Garrett Medeiros and UNCG's Bowman.
Jaeger headlined the inaugural all-freshman team along with Anthony Aloi and Matt Broome of Furman, Jackson Taylor of Davidson and Will Almand of UNC Greensboro.
AGATE
TEAM SCORING: Chattanooga 852, Georgia Southern 854, Western Carolina 864, Furman 872, Wofford 879, Elon 883, Davidson 894, UNCG 901, College of Charleston 903, Samford 906, Appalachian State 911
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
Top 10: 1. Drew Lethem (Georgia Southern) 66-72-72=210; T-2. Tanner Briele (Western Carolina) 69-71-71=211; T-2. Fredrik Qvicker (Chattanooga) 69-72-70=211; 4. Logan Blondell (Georgia Southern) 71-70-71=212; T-5. Ricky Stout (Western Carolina) 69-75-69=213; T-5. Stephan Jaeger (Chattanooga) 71-71-71=213; T-5. Will Bowman 72-68-73=213; T-8. Drew Perry (Wofford) 76-69-69=214; T-8. Ben Rickett (Chattanooga) 72-71-71=214; T-8. Daniel Bowden (Furman) 71-70-73; T-8. Derek Rende (Chattanooga) 67-73-74=214.
Other UNCG Golfers: T-39. Ryan Heisey 73-76-80=229; T-44. Drew Younts 77-79-75=231; T-46. Kyle Sonday 74-78-80=232; 51. Will Almand 74-81-79=234.
All-Conference
Stephan Jaeger, Chattanooga
Derek Rende, Chattanooga
Ben Rickett, Chattanooga
Michael Saari, Davidson
Daniel Bowden, Furman
Logan Blondell, Georgia Southern
Drew Lethem, Georgia Southern
Will Bowman, UNC Greensboro
Andres Cuenca, Western Carolina
Garrett Medeiros, Wofford
All-Freshman
Stephan Jaeger, Chattanooga
Jackson Taylor, Davidson
Anthony Aloi, Furman
Matt Broome, Furman
Will Almand, UNC Greensboro
Player of the Year
Logan Blondell, Georgia Southern
Freshman of the Year
Stephan Jaeger, Chattanooga
Coach of the Year
Larry Mays, Georgia Southern
- UNCG -