University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Mizuno Invitational
Horton Claims Top 20 Finish At Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate
10/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Pooler, Ga. – In his first tournament of the year, USC Upstate sophomore men's golfer and Boiling Springs, S.C., native Brian Horton claimed a top 20 finish to lead the Spartans at the Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate that wrapped up Tuesday at the Savannah Quarters Country Club. Upstate finished 10th in the 14-team tournament.
Horton, who played in 10 events last year and won a share of the individual championship at the Palmas Del Mar Collegiate Classic last spring for his first career win, carded a 76 Tuesday and finished at 1-over-par 217 to finish tied for 19th. With tremendous depth on the team, he narrowly missed out in qualifying for the first two tournaments of the year, but played his way into the lineup this week and finished as the top Spartan in the tournament.
Upstate carded a 293 on the day and remained in 10th place, the same spot it started in Tuesday's final round. The Spartans finished with a 54-hole total of 879. They were just seven shots out of a seventh-place finish in a very tight field. Florida Gulf Coast entered the final round with a hefty lead after standing 20-under and coasted to the win by 17 strokes. The Eagles finished with an 844 total.
Wofford finished second in the tournament with an 861 total and was followed by Winthrop (865), Troy (865), Jacksonville (866), Georgia College & State University (869), Davidson (872), Elon (875), Arkansas State (876), Upstate (879), Armstrong Atlantic State (883), Charleston Southern (888), Georgia Southern (888) and Gardner-Webb (903).
"The conditions were basically the same all three rounds," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "The weather was perfect and the course was in great shape. They tucked the pins in difficult locations and the par-3s had length today. The pins weren't as accessible as they were yesterday. In the end, it's a course you are going to make some bogeys on and we just made too many in the tournament."
Matthew Hopper (Gaffney, S.C.) carded his second-straight solid round, finishing with a 72 on Tuesday to further move up the leaderboard in a tie for 23rd with a 218 total. He was remarkably consistent, tallying one birdie, one bogey and 16 pars.
After firing back-to-back rounds of 75, Brad Sill (Spartanburg) carded the team's low round, a 71, and finished with a 221 total and in a tie for 36th. He had quite an adventure on the course, finishing with four birdies, two eagles, three bogeys and two double bogeys on the day.
Tyler Comer (Pacolet Mills, S.C.) shot a 74 on Tuesday and finished with a 226 total, while McKenzie Oref (Easley, S.C.) carded a 78 and finished at 234. Adam Goins (Gaffney, S.C.), who made his collegiate debut playing as an individual for Upstate, shot a 76 and finished with a 226 total to tie Comer.
"Over three rounds, if every player pulls in a shot, that's 12 shots and you can see where that will put you on the leaderboard," said Lawton. "Pulling in those shots is important for us. We are probably better than we have been as far as depth, but we are missing that one player in each tournament to go out and shoot three low scores. We have to work toward getting all five scores lower to help our team. It was nice to see that Adam, playing as an individual, showed us that he is ready to contribute."
