GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Trojans shot a tournament-best team-score of +1 on the final day of the South Atlantic Conference Championships to solidify a 3rd-place finish on the leaderboard. Senior Simon Wright (Lancaster, S.C.) led the team, shooting –3 overall for a 4th-place All-Tournament finish.
"Really proud of how the guys fought this week," said Head Coach Austin Castles. "The 2nd and 3rd round brought some tough conditions on an already tricky golf course. We played a decent round to start things off in round one before really struggling on our final nine holes in round two. So proud of the way the guys responded to that and went out and shot the second-best round of the day by seven shots in round three."
The Trojans opened the tournament with a +6 showing, ending day one in third place behind No. 4 Lincoln Memorial and No. 13 Wingate. The heavy winds took a toll on the second day of play, with the Black and Gold shooting +17, specifically putting up a +12 score on the back nine holes. AU dropped into 5th place going into the final round.
In the final round, the Trojans boasted a +1 team score, good for the second-best round of the day and fourth-best round of the tournament by any team. The round was nearly good enough to boost Anderson into 2nd place as a team, but the possibility was spoiled as three of the four scoring players for Wingate shot a birdie on the final hole. The Bulldogs pulled off the 2nd-place finish, just two strokes ahead of the Trojans.
"Can't tell you how proud I am of our seniors, Simon and Jamie. Simon birdied four of his last five holes to shoot 68 to have the clubhouse lead, but ended up falling just two shots short of having a chance to be the individual champion. Jamie stepped up and fired a final round of 71 when we needed him most. These two guys were recognized as two of the best players in the conference, and I can't put into words how much they will be missed."
Second-Team All-SAC honoree Wright fired a tournament score of 70-75-68—213(-3), jumping from even to four-under on the final five holes of the tournament. He finished 4th overall of 63 scoring players, as one of only five to finish under-par.
Fellow Second-Team All-SAC honoree Jamie Markwick (Bishop's Waltham, Eng.) went 75-75-71—221(+5) on the tournament. He earned his seventh Top-25 finish of the year, landing 13th on the board.
"Luke was also big for us this week, giving us a really solid round of golf each day."
Luke Sullivan (Columbia, S.C.) carded a tournament score of 70-75-74—219(+3) to finish 11th overall. Following Sullivan, Sam McMillan (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) shot +19 in the contest, highlighted by a +4 final round, while Julian Daws (Plettenburg, Z.A.) put up rounds of 80 and 81 and James Parsons (London, U.K.) shot +4 to close out the tournament.
"Proud of Julian, Sam and James as well. Thankful for the grind and effort they put in this week. As always, really thankful for Coach Denton Moore. Couldn't have had the success we had this week without him out there. Now we wait and see what the NCAA committee votes to see if we'll be headed to Regionals."
Prior to the tournament, the Trojans were ranked No. 10 in the Southeast Region. The Top-10 teams in each region qualify for the regional tournament. This year, the NCAA South/Southeast Regional Championship will take place in Florida from May 8-10th.
