In its first ever appearance in the NAIA golf championship, Coastal Georgia captured a national championship, winning the 2014 tournament at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Mariners have fielded a golf team for just four years, competing at the junior college level its first season before becoming a four-year school and joining the NAIA.
All five of the team’s starters are Georgia residents, with the team coached by Mike Cook, a Georgia PGA member and a long time instructor at Sea Island Golf Club.
Coastal Georgia finished the tournament with a 1-over 865 total, shooting 3-under 285 the first day to lead by two strokes and closing with a tournament best 284 to win by four after trailing by four strokes after 36 holes.
Allen Bradford, a junior from Elberton, was low for the Mariners in the tournament, placing 4th at 213 after scores of 70-74-69. He finished two shots out of a playoff for the individual title.
Dylan Freeman, a senior from Athens, shot 70-73-73 and tied for 12th at 216. Freeman, a first team All-American, was one of two starters for Coastal Georgia who played for the school’s first team during the 2010-11 season.
The other senior starter is Chase Miller of Dalton, who shot a final round 70 to tie for 25th at 219. Also tying for 25th was Hunter Cornelius, a junior from Ringgold, who was one of three Mariners to shoot 70 in the opening round.
Trevor Smith, a sophomore from Newnan, contributed a final round 72, as the Mariners were the only team to break par that day.
Coastal Georgia was 4th in the national junior college tournament in 2011, and won a national championship at the NAIA level in just its second year of eligibility.