DULUTH, Ga. – Georgia State finished with three golfers in the top 20 to place fourth at the fifth annual AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic at Berkeley Hills Country Club on Tuesday (October 13th, 2015). The Panthers shot a final round 1-over 289 on their home course to finish the event at 1-over par.
Lipscomb cruised to the title, shooting a team-tournament record 25-under par, eclipsing Georgia State’s record of 19-under par from two years ago. The Bisons finished eight strokes ahead of second-place South Florida (17-under) and 25 strokes ahead of third-place Troy which finished at even par. Georgia State was 1-over, followed by UNC Greensboro in fifth at 2-over.
Lipscomb’s Dawson Armstrong doubled-up the field and set a tournament individual scoring record by finishing at 16-under par following a final round 68. The previous mark was held by South Florida’s Chase Koepka at 10-under from 2013. Armstrong finished eight strokes ahead of South Florida’s Oskar Bergqvist who finished at 8-under par, followed by South Florida’s Christian DiMarco in third at 5-under par. A group of four golfers tied for fourth at 3-under.
“You always want to play well in your home event,” head coach Joe Inman said. “Obviously we would have like to finish a little better, but we have to tip our caps to Lipscomb and Dawson Armstrong. They played great golf this week and deserved to win the tournament.
“Overall, we had a great week. Our sponsors have done so much to make this a great tournament and Berkeley Hills is an incredible host for us. We could not have done it without all of them.”
Georgia State was led by sophomore Alexander Herrmann’s tie for eighth at 2-under par. Herrmann shot a final round 2-under 70, the low round of the day for the Panthers.
Junior Nathan Mallonee and sophomore Max Herrmann tied for 16-under at even par. Mallonee shot a final round 74, while Herrmann added a 1-under 71. Senior J.J. Grey shot a 74 on Tuesday to finish tied for 29th at 3-over par, while freshman Nick Budd rounded out the Panthers line-up with a final round 76 to finish 18-over par and tied for 81st.
Freshman Nathan Williams was one of five Panthers competing as individuals this week. Williams tied for 29th at 3-over par following a final round 75.
Redshirt-freshman James Kyles shot 78 in the final round to finish 73rd at 14-over par, while sophomore Hayden Poole and redshirt-freshman Sean Murphy tied for 76th at 15-over par. Poole shot 77 on Tuesday, while Murphy finished with a 78. Freshman Sam Asbury finished with a final round 84 to tie for 87th at 29-over.
This week’s field included a pair of top 50 teams and eight top 100 squads in the latest Golfweek rankings.
Georgia State will return to the course for the final event of the fall, the UNCG Bridgestone Collegiate Oct. 24-25, at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C.