ConfCarolinas Men's Golfers Round Out Regional Play; BAC's Hedges Qualifies as Individual for NCAA Championship in Dramatic Fashion

5/9/2013 12:00:00 AM

-Stories below courtesy of schools sports information departments-

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Men's Golf Finishes Tied For 14th At NCAA Regional; Hedges Advances To Nationals As Individual In Playoff

Senior Adam Hedges Qualified For The National Championships As An Individual In A Playoff

The Belmont Abbey men's golf team finished tied for 14th at the 2013 NCAA South/Southeast Regional, and senior first-team All-American Adam Hedges survived a two hole sudden death, three for two playoff to advance to the National Championships in Hershey, Pennsylvania May 20-24 as an individual competitor. The Regional was hosted by the Sunshine State Conference at the par 72 Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.

Hedges capped off his final round with an even par 72 after birdieing the final two holes to finish with a three day score of 219 (+3). He completed his round at about 12:30 p.m. tied for 18th. After the afternoon wave, he moved all the way into a tie for eighth. Approximately six hours after finishing his round, he began a playoff with Daniel Claytor of Barton and Nate Gahman of Georgia Southwestern, with two of the three players advancing to the National Championships.

The sudden death playoff started at the par four eighteenth hole. All three players recorded a four on the hole, forcing the playoff to a second hole, the par five first. There, Hedges sank a birdie putt from the fringe. Gahman also birdied, but Claytor recorded a par, ending the playoff with Hedges and Gahman advancing to the Hershey Country Club in two weeks.

Hedges, who is the number one ranked player in the region, will play in the national tournament for the first time, capping off his Belmont Abbey career that has seen him win consecutive Conference Carolinas Player of the Year awards, advance past the first stage of British Open qualifying in 2011 as well as earning first team All-America and first team Academic All-America honors.

As a team, Belmont Abbey finished in a tie for 14th, along with Armstrong Atlantic with a three day score of 916. Hedges, as mentioned, finished in a tie for eighth as he bookended rounds of 72 around a second round 75. Arnor Finnbjornsson opened with a 73, followed that with a 79 and closed with a 77 to finish in a tie for 55th.

Senior John Frisby, a first team all-Conference Carolinas selection, who is ranked behind second behind Hedges regionally in scoring average, finished his career with rounds of 79-77-77 to finish in a tie for 78th. An honor student, Frisby will return to his native Indiana to attend graduate school at Purdue University.

Matthew Reid opened and closed with scores of 79 to go along with a second round 77 to finish in a tie for 87th. Robin Salmi ended up alone in 108th with rounds of 83-88-86.

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Howey-in-the-Hill, FL – After essentially falling out of contention on the second day, the young Erskine men's golf team showed tremendous perseverance, carding their best round on day three, to climb five spots in the standings to finish in 13^th place in the 20 team NCAA South/Southeast Regional Tournament at the Mission Inn and Resort (Par 72, 6,928).

  With the top 7 teams advancing the NCAA Championship Tournament, Erskine was in striking distance after the first round, sitting in 14^th place, eleven strokes behind 7^th place USC-Aiken.  Unfortunately, the Fleet shot a second-round worst 313 to drop to 18^th place and essentially out of contention for the NCAA Championship Tournament.  The young Fleet team shrugged off their poor performance, to shoot a 291 on the final day, demonstrating that the young Fleet team is more than capable of playing with the best programs in region and nation.  Only the Nova Southeastern, the tournament champion, shot a better round than the Fleet that day.  In fact, the 291 was the fourth best team round in the entire tournament.

Sophomore Brad Thorne (Moore, SC, Oakbrook Preparatory School) led the Fleet charge up the standings finishing in 13^th place with a three-day score of 76-73-71-220, missing by one stroke an opportunity to participate in a playoff for an individual invitation to the NCAA Championship.  In addition to the top 7 teams, the top two individual finishers who are not on one of the top 7 teams earn an invitation to the NCAA Championship Tournament.

Just three strokes back of Thorne, fellow sophomore Ford Blanchard(Orangeburg, SC, Orangeburg Preparatory Schools) also posted a one under par (71) on the last day to finish tied for 28^th place with a 223 (74-78-71). Junior Jeremy Carrell (Prince George, VA, Prince George High School) also contributed to the Fleet's run up the leader board, shooting par (72) on the last day to finish tied for 96^th place with a 237 (79-86-72).  Meanwhile freshman Tyler Lucas (Rock Hill, SC, Northwestern High School) shot a consistent 77-81-77-235 to finish tied for 87^th place.  Freshman Cameron Ford (Bridgeport, WV, Bridgeport High School)completed the scoring for the Flying Fleet with a three-day score of 254 (87-81-86), good for 107^th place.

After placing second on the first day, Nova Southeastern ran away from the pack with back-to-back low rounds of 284 (-9) to easily win the team title by sixteen strokes over 2^nd place Barry College. 

Nova Southeastern teammates' Ben Taylor and Ricardo Celia competed for individual medal honors with Taylor edging Celia by one stroke.  Over the three rounds, Taylor never finished over par, winning the tournament with a six under par (210-70-71-69). 

 

Recap | Results | Photos

 

 

 

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla.-Barton College senior All-American Daniel Claytor drained a nearly 60-foot birdie putt on his 54th hole to finish birdie-birdie and momentarily keep the Bulldogs chances of advancing to the National Championship finals alive in the final round of the South/Southeast Regional of the 2013 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at the Mission Inn Resort and Club.

USC Aiken's J.P. Solis was in the final group of third round of the 10th tee with Claytor and he was able to two-putt the ninth green for par after Claytor drilled his improbable birdie chance on the last to shoot matching one-over par rounds of 73 to keep the third-ranked Pacers one shot ahead of Barton at the end in seventh place.

Barton – playing in its 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament – entered the final round in ninth place and needed to move up two positions to advance to the National Championship finals for a fifth time in program history under veteran head coach John Hackney.

The Bulldogs made a valiant charge against the best teams in the nation in the "Super Regional" that featured 14 teams ranked in the nation's top-25 and 19 teams in the top-40. Barton carded a five-over total of 293 on the difficult 6,928-yard, par-72 El Campion Course to pass 18th-ranked Georgia College but USCA, entering the day one shot in front of Barton, matched the Bulldogs with a 293 to stay in front by the slimmest of margins.

Barton entered the event ranked 15th nationally but was only the 10th best ranked team in the field before once again proving to be one of the nation's best programs with its eighth place result with a score of 304-295-293—892 (+28). Top-ranked defending national champion Nova Southeastern University ran away with the top spot with a three-day total of nine-under par 855. Other teams that advanced were No. 2 Barry University (871), No. 6 Florida Southern College (887), No. 9 Columbus State (887), No. 8 Lynn University (889), No. 24 West Florida (890) and No. 3 USC Aiken (891).

The Bulldogs defeated No. 18 Georgia (899), No. 10 North Alabama (903), No. 20 Georgia Southwestern (903), No. 16 Rollins (907), No. 29 Erskine (910), No. 13 Armstrong Atlantic (916), No. 11 Belmont Abbey (916), No. 64 Eckerd (919), No. 31 Florida Tech (920), No. 39 Valdosta State (926), No. 23 Mount Olive (928) and No. 36 Lincoln Memorial (936).

Barton had the tough draw on Monday, playing after 12 teams already recorded strong scores in a calm morning round and then teeing off in the afternoon as the wind steadily picked up to about consistent 15-20 miles per hour. BC had the second best score out of the eight teams that had to play in the afternoon but it was only good for 12th place overall. The Bulldogs barked backed and moved up to ninth place with an impressive total on Tuesday that was tied for the second best score of the day. Barton moved up one more position with its lowest score on Tuesday that inched the squad within three shots of fifth place but still proved to be one shot too high.

The Bulldogs were the seventh seed out of the Southeast Region but had the third best finish out of 10 teams from the region. Five of the seven teams that advanced were from the South Region.

Claytor fired three consecutive rounds of one-over par 73 to finish in a five-way tie for eighth place out of 108 players. Claytor's three-over total of 219 put him in a three-way tie for the two individual qualifiers to the National Championship finals. Claytor, who qualified as an individual for Barton as a freshman, was forced into a playoff against Belmont Abbey's Adam Hedges and Georgia Southwestern's Nate Gahman to determine the two qualifiers.

All three players made par on the first playoff hole, the dogleg-right, par-4 18th hole. Claytor also made par on the second playoff hole, the par-five 1st hole, but both of his competitors drained birdie putts to advance.

Claytor – a two-time All-American – birdied his last two holes to post his third top-10 finish in the impressive South/Southeast Regional field (108 players). Claytor has tied for second, seventh, eighth and 11th in his four postseason appearances at the regional level.

Claytor – who holds Barton's single season and career scoring record – finished with a 72.63 scoring average which ranks in the top-20 nationally.

Junior Nicolas Fonseca and sophomore Austin Doerr also carded rounds of 73 on Wednesday to help the Bulldogs make a push at the coveted top-seven positions.

Barton several shots behind USCA heading down the final stretch before the Bulldogs played the last two holes at three-under par to put the pressure on the Pacers. Doerr birdied his last hole as well, stuffing his approach shot from a fairway bunker to about six feet. Fonseca played solid on the closing holes finishing with six consecutive pars.

Fonseca tied for 21st with a total of 74-75-73—222. Doerr was two strokes back, tied for 37th after steadily improving each day with a sum of 77-74-73—224.

Freshman Edward Thomas III struggled in his postseason debut with an 82 in Monday's opening round but bounced back into form and provided Barton with a pair of good counting scores on Tuesday and Wednesday with matching 74s. Thomas slipped just inside the top half of the field with his tie for 58th result (82-74-74—230).

Junior Micah Lawrence rounded out the Bulldogs lineup and he provided two counting scores as well en route to his total of 80-74-79—233. Lawrence tied for 78th.

Ben Taylor, ranked the top player in NCAA Division II, won the regional medalist honors with a six-under total of 70-71-69—210 to clip his Nova Southeastern teammate Ricardo Celia (69-72-70—211) by one.

Fonseca (74.15), Thomas (74.58) Doerr (75.14) and Lawrence (76.56) all finished with 2012-13 scoring averages within three 2.5 shots of each other.

Barton moved up to No. 14 nationally in Golfstat's DII head-to-head national rankings after its impressive play in the NCAA Tournament.