Columbia Men's Golf Finishes 3rd at USC-Union Invite
LAURENS, S.C. - The Columbia College men's golf teams finished in 3rd and 4th place at the USC-Union Bantams Invitational at Lakeside CC in Laurens, SC on Monday and Tuesday. Columbia's B team finished 3rd at 55-over 631 while the A team was 4th at 62-over 638.
The Koala men shot a 318 in round one (+30) to trail first place East Florida State by five strokes before improving by five shots to shoot a 313 (+25) in round two. Columbia's other team sat in 5th place out of 10 schools after round one by shooting a 327 (+39) but improved 16 strokes to shoot a 311 (+23) in round two beating the other Koala team by 2 strokes on day two. East Fla. State won the tournament with rounds of 313 and 296 while Florida College finished second.
Freshman Parker Gordish led the Koalas by placing in a tie for 6th at 11-over 155 by shooting rounds of 81 and 74 tallying three birdies on the week. Senior Owen Talbot came on strong in round two for the Koalas as he led the team with an even par 72 on Tuesday compared to his 14-over 86 in round one. Talbot fired off three birdies and 11 pars in his stellar round on day two as he finished in 11th place at +14 over 158.
Sophomore Jaxon Mock then finished right behind Talbot in 12th place at +15 (159) after rounds of 84 and 75 as he improved by nine on day two and posted the third-best Koala score. Sophomore Christian Hadley then came in 15th place at 161 shooting rounds of 82 on day one and 79 on day two while freshman Brandon Russ shot a quality 6-over 78 in round one on Monday before falling back some to an 83 on day two to finish in a tie for 15th place at 161 (+17). Tying for 18th place was sophomore Gavin Ratliff who shot rounds of 79 and 83 for a +18 over 162.
Freshman Jackson Arseneau then shot a 12-over 84 in round one before improving by five on day two with a 7-over 79 with two birdies to finish in 20th place at +19 over 163 while senior Daniel Freese also finished 20th at 163 shooting an 84 and 79 as well including an impressive back nine on day two at -1 under par 35.
Sophomore Josh Brown was tied for the lead after round one as he shot a 1-over 73 including three birdies and an eagle (-2 under) to finish off a front nine 33. However, he fell back to the pack on day two struggling his way to a 91 and 23rd place finish out of a field of 50 at +20 over 164. Sophomore Zach Mock also finished in a tie for 37th place at 175 after rounds of 90 and 85.
Freshman Tanner Caldwell, playing as an individual, improved to shoot a 9-over 81 on day two after shooting a 16-over 88 in round one to finish in 32nd place at +25 over 169 while fellow individual Stephen Swenson shot a 22-over 94 in round one and a 103 in round two to finish 48th.
The Koala golfers will next be competing on March 16-17 in Pinehurst, NC at the Sandhills Flyers Invitational.
