STATESBORO, Ga. – It was the youngsters who got them in position and the veterans who finished the deal as juniors Archer Price and Jake Storey shot 71 to lead the Georgia Southern men’s golf team to a second-place finish in the Schenkel Invitational Sunday at Forest Heights Country Club.
The Eagles were in a three-way tie at 16-under with No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Florida with three holes to go. Georgia Southern played holes 16 and 17 4-over, while Florida played them even and Vanderbilt shot 1-over, but the Eagles shot 4-under on hole 18 to take second place.
The Gators (-18) posted the two-stroke victory over Georgia Southern (-16), and Vanderbilt (-15) finished third. NC State (-5) placed fourth, and Kentucky (-4) was fifth.
Patrick Martin (-12) fired a 66, the lowest score of the day, to move seven places up the leaderboard and win medalist honors by two strokes over R.J. Keur (-10) of UAB. Sam Horsfield (-9) of Florida was third.
Sophomore Steven Fisk (-5), who posted a 67 yesterday, grinded out of serious trouble on holes 9 and 17 to card a 75 and tie for eighth. Price (-4) moved up two spots and tied for 14th, and freshman Brett Barron (-3), who shot 67-66 in the first two rounds, tied for 15th, salvaging a tough day by playing his last seven holes 3-under.
Storey (+2) tied for 29th, while Cody O’Toole carded a 75. Crawford Simmons (+3) led the Eagle individuals with a 73 and tied for 34th, while Jonas Vaisanen shot 74 and Luukas Alakulppi shot 81 today.
The field featured six top-50 teams and 10 top-100 individuals. It was the Eagles’ third top-3 finish at the Schenkel in the last five years.
The story
Storey chipped in for eagle on hole 18 to key the Eagles’ team finish. He birdied holes 1 and 5 as he played his first 12 holes 2-under.
After a tough start, Price parred five holes in a row before making birdie on hole 8. He played the back nine clean with an eagle on the 540-yard, par-5 12th and made a birdie on 18 to get under par.
O’Toole made two birdies on the front and played his first nine 1-over. The junior added a birdie on hole 12 and finished with a pair of pars.
Fisk got off to a good start with three straight pars before running into a little trouble as he made the turn. He scored par or better on eight of nine holes on the back with birdies on holes 12 and 18.
Vaisanen teed off on hole 10 and played his first nine holes even, and the junior posted three birdies in a row on holes 5, 6 and 7. Simmons recorded a clean card with the exception of one hole, started his day with seven straight pars on the back nine and played the front 1-under with a birdie on hole 5.
Barron led the tournament with 17 birdies, Storey led in eagles with two and Price led in pars with 42.
Quotable from Coach Carter Collins
On playing 18 4-under
“Having everybody finish on 18 like they did was incredible. That’s a tough pin placement.”
On the week
“We just took two of the best teams in the country to the wire and made them do everything they could to beat us. That’s what I’m most proud of with these guys and really shows the progress we’ve made this season.
Overall, our mindset this week in figuring out this course and understanding the pressure that comes with this tournament is something that we can handle was great. That’s important for us moving forward.”
On tournament at Furman
“It’s a quick turnaround, and it’s important to take the confidence and all the great things we learned from this week and put them to work this upcoming week. The field is good and tough and it’s a course we’ve never played at. So it’s another challenge we’re looking forward to.”
Next up
Georgia Southern returns to action at the Furman Intercollegiate March 24-26.