Final SSC Men's Golf Championship Results
BRADENTON, Fla. – Forging through difficult course conditions, the Eckerd College men's golf program fired a final-round tally of 328 to conclude the Florida Blue Sunshine State Conference Championship in sixth place on Tuesday.
After positioning themselves in fourth and primed to make a run at the top of the team standings following the first two rounds of play, the Tritons (300-304-328--932), along with the rest of the field, battled unusually fast greens, tricky pin placements and a strong downwind, as scores across the field were noticeably higher.
Nova Southeastern University claimed a wire-to-wire victory by 37 strokes thanks to medalist Ben Taylor and runner-up Oscar Lengden. Florida Southern, Florida Tech, Lynn University and Barry University, rounded out the top five.
As carefully calculated by Eckerd Head Coach
Bill Buttner, the average score on Tuesday ranged around an 81 or an 82. Double-digit scores were not uncommon per hole at The Concession Golf Club and winds ranging from 15-20 mph complicated matters further for the players.
“They tweaked the golf course a notch tougher and everybody in the whole field paid the price for it,” Buttner analyzed. “It was a penalizing layout. Add the difficult pin placements together with the wind…and you have some funny numbers out there. I was hearing stories out there I couldn't believe.”
“The greens were so fast, the fastest collegiate greens I've seen,” he continued. “You could start from 15 feet above the hole and go 8 feet below the hole and not be able to do anything about it. Today was about survival.”
Senior
Callum Georgallides finished in the top 10, tying for eighth, and strengthened his campaign for placement on the all-conference team that will be announced in the near future. He was tied for second going into today's round with just one stroke separating him from the leader.
Georgallides (70-73-82--225) began on the 10th with a tough triple bogey to begin his day. He managed to shoot a 41 on both sides to card an 82 (+10) in his last round.
Sophomore
Jeff Evanier was just one shot off his teammate's pace, pulling into the clubhouse with an 83. He began his day with four straight pars and parred five straight holes while making the turn into the front nine.
Evanier finished in solo 17th with a three-round score of 232 (+16).
Junior
Paul Henderson had the Tritons' best score of the day, posting an 81 to move up into 27th in the field. He made back-to-back birdies on the par-5 17th and par-4 18th holes.
Greg Reilly also recorded a tough birdie on his third hole of the morning on No. 12 and was just three strokes behind Henderson in 29th.
Senior
Curtis Lahey matched his second-round score of an 82 on Tuesday. He improved his status by closing the tournament in 40th with a two-day total of 249.
The Tritons are projected (although not official) to be among the teams present at the NCAA Regionals in Conover, N.C., in May. An announcement of the field is expected to come later this month.
