Comer's 73 Not Enough For Spartans At Springhill Suites Intercollegiate
9/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Florence, S.C. – Aside from a solid round from former Broome High School standout Tyler Comer, who shot a team-best 73, USC Upstate faltered in the final round of the Springhill Suites Intercollegiate and finished 15th in the tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Country Club of South Carolina.
Upstate stood in a tie for 11th entering Tuesday's final round, but a 309 dropped the Spartans to 15th place with a 54-hole total of 897. The Spartans finished three strokes behind host Francis Marion.
Comer, from Spartanburg, turned in Upstate's best round of the day. He fired a 1-over-par 73 to finish the tournament in a tie for 40th with a 224 total. He finished as the second-best Spartan in the tournament behind Brad Sill (Spartanburg). Sill began the day in a tie for eighth at 2-under-par, but carded an 80 on Tuesday and finished tied for 33rd at 222.
Georgia College & State University shot its third straight sub-290 round of the tournament to win the championship with an 848 total. The Bobcats won the championship by 16 strokes over Chattanooga (866). Furman finished third with an 870 total and was followed by Jacksonville State (871), Samford (874), Georgia Southern (874), Radford (877), Elon (883), Gardner-Webb (884), USC Aiken (885), Charleston Southern (887), Presbyterian College (889), Appalachian State (893), Francis Marion (894) and Upstate (897).
"The encouraging thing was that four of the five players shot 73 or better in the tournament," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "For a young team, that is encouraging. We didn't put it together for the entire tournament, but we can build off of that. It couldn't be more evident today that our focus has to be on putting the ball at the bottom of the cup by whatever means. Momentum is huge in golf and when we couldn't get our footing this morning, we didn't bear down and execute the next shot. We didn't miss one shot and recover. We would miss a shot, the next shot and then recover. That's where we were today.
"I am especially impressed with Tyler. He had an up-and-down round, but managed to put a solid round together."
Chattanooga's Chris Robb entered the final round with a 9-under-par total and a three-stroke lead. He shot a 72 Tuesday to claim the individual championship by one stroke over GC&SU's Billy Shida.
Matthew Hopper (Gaffney, S.C.) finished the tournament as the third-lowest Spartan. He carded a 79 on Tuesday and claimed 55th-place with a 227 total. Will Graves (Rock Hill, S.C.) shot a 78 on Tuesday and claimed a tie for 63rd with a 231 total. Danny Brock (Simpsonville, S.C.) finished tied for 68th after carding a 79 on Tuesday and turning in a 232 total.
While the Spartans struggled on Tuesday, each player had stretches of holes where they played well. However, other than Comer, the other four players just couldn't keep it together for the whole round. The hole of the day came from Graves when he was in trouble off the tee, but recovered with a great third shot and birdie putt.
