PINE MOUNTAIN - The Georgia Southwestern golf team had the Peach Belt Conference Championship leader in its sights Tuesday at Callaway Gardens, but a mid-round stumble quickly dropped the Hurricanes to sixth place at the 11-team event.
GSW entered Tuesday six strokes behind leader UNC Pembroke and early in Tuesday's final round Southwestern had moved to within four strokes of the top position.
As quickly as the Hurricanes had moved up on UNCP, they moved twice as fast in the opposite direction. GSW, as a team, played holes six through nine at 7-over par. Holes 12 through 15 were just as draining as the 'Canes shot 10-over during that stretch. For the day, GSW played those eight holes at 17-over after finishing the first two rounds at a combined 9-over.
All-PBC First Team selection Craig Gibson provided a silver lining for an otherwise disappointing day for the Hurricanes. Gibson, who had tied for the low round of the tournament with a blistering 67 in the second round in which he rattled off six birdies to go with only one bogey, ended the event at even par and earned All-Tournament honors. Gibson tied for third in the 55-player field, three strokes behind the individual medalist Joel Dahlenburg from Flagler.
J.P. Griffin and Nate Gahman entered the day tied and finished the day tied as both men posted 76 scores on the 7,052-yard, par-72 Mountain View Course to end with a 225, 9-over. Travis Oestmann took 30th with a 227 (75-73-79). Chris Hall matched Oestmann with a 79 on Tuesday and finished tied for 39th at 15-over with a 231 total.
The Hurricanes will now have to wait to see if they receive an invitation to the NCAA Division II regionals May 5-7 in Hanover, N.C.
2012 PEACH BELT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS - TEAM SCORES
Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Total | ||
(14) UNC Pembroke | 288 | 291 | 293 |
872 |
+8 |
(18) USC Aiken | 295 | 287 | 290 |
872 |
+8 |
(21) Georgia College | 293 | 291 | 291 |
875 |
+11 |
(RV) Columbus State | 297 | 295 | 290 |
882 |
+18 |
(24) Armstrong | 293 | 301 | 292 |
886 |
+22 |
(16) GSW | 296 | 289 | 305 |
890 | +26 |
(RV) Flagler | 300 | 294 | 299 |
893 |
+29 |
Clayton State | 309 | 303 | 293 |
905 |
+41 |
North Georgia |
304 | 311 | 310 |
925 |
+61 |
Montevallo | 302 | 314 | 316 |
932 |
+68 |
Lander | 313 | 304 | 325 |
942 |
+78 |
( ) - NCAA Division II ranking in latest Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches Poll with RV = received votes |
GSW SCORES
Place | Rd 1 |
Rd 2 |
Rd 3 | Total | ||
T3 | Craig Gibson | 75 | 67 | 74 |
216 |
E |
T21 |
J.P. Griffin | 71 | 78 | 76 |
225 |
+9 |
T21 | Nate Gahman | 77 | 72 | 76 |
225 |
+9 |
30 | Travis Oeastmann | 75 | 73 | 79 |
227 |
+11 |
T39 | Christopher Hall | 75 | 77 | 79 |
231 |
+15 |