Golf Posts 3rd-Best Final Round to Finish 8th; Gordish Places 6th

ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. - The Columbia College men's golf team finished in 8th place overall out of 14 conference schools at the Appalachian Athletic Conference Direct Qualifier Monday and Tuesday from the Barnsley Inn & Golf Club in Adairsville, GA.

Freshman Parker Gordish finished in 6th place overall and was named to the AAC All-Conference 2nd Team after shooting his second consecutive 1-over 73 to lead CC in round three. He finished with 3 birdies in each round for nine total as he shot a 75 in round one followed by two 73s to end up at +5 over par 221 for the tournament. He finished three shots back of the leaders.

The Koalas, as a team, shot the third-best final round of the day on Tuesday shooting a +20 over 308 beating out 11 other schools to move from 10th place on Monday night to 8th place Tuesday. Columbia shot a 322 in round one Monday morning and improved by two to shoot a 320 in round two Monday afternoon before their 308 Tuesday to finish at 950 (+86).

Reinhardt (Ga.) won the team race by 34 shots over runner-up Milligan (TN) and third place Truett McConnell (Ga.). TN Wesleyan finished 4th followed by CIU, Johnson, Montreat and the Koalas in the top 8. CC was a stroke back of Montreat for 7th place while the Koalas also finished higher than two ranked programs, #40 SCAD-Atlanta (9th) and #45 Pikeville (12th).

Sophomore Zach Mock then finished 2nd on the Koalas by shooting a final round 2-over 74 to go along with his 83 in the first round Monday and 7-over 79 in the second round as he finished tied for 26th at +20 over par. 

Meanwhile, senior champions of character nominee, Daniel DJ Freese, finished tied for 50th place at +35 over par after shooting rounds of 83 and 86 during the first two rounds Monday before coming back to shoot a 10-over 82 on Tuesday. Sophomore and twin brother of Zach, Jaxon Mock, then finished in a tie for 55th at +39 over shooting rounds of 9-over 81 with two birdies in the first round, an 82 in round two and a 92 in round three.

Sophomore Josh Brown then only played two rounds and finished 69th after shooting an 83 in the first round and a 90 in round two. Brown registered two birdies in his first round.

However, on day two, freshman Brandon Russ was subbed in for Brown and immediately started his opening round with a birdie before going on to card two more -1 under birdies in his round to shoot a +7 over 79 helping the Koala team score in round three.

Results: SCOREBOARD - 2026 AAC Direct Qualifier (Men) Team Leaderboard