University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
A-Sun Championships
Spartans Place Two in Top 20 at A-Sun Championships
4/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Braselton, Ga. – The USC Upstate men's golf team completed play at the 2012 A-Sun Championships Wednesday afternoon and placed two players in the top 20 on the individual leaderboard. The Spartans claimed seventh place as a team.
The teams battled a two-hour weather delay to start the day and battled difficult conditions throughout the round. Upstate shot a final round 317 and finished seventh in the tournament with a 918 total. The Spartans were 11 shots out of a top five finish and four strokes out of sixth.
North Florida led wire-to-wire and claimed the team championship with an 875 total. The eighth-ranked Ospreys won by four strokes over a hard-charging East Tennessee State squad. The Buccaneers were the only team to shoot below 300 on the day and finished second with an 879 total. Kennesaw State was third with an 894 total and was followed by Florida Gulf Coast (896), Stetson (907), Mercer (914), Upstate (918), Jacksonville (923), Lipscomb (925) and Belmont (933).
"The weather and course conditions were tough today, no doubt," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "It was a great test of patience and perseverance. We handled it well early in the round, but it wore us down in the end. We have this experience to build on for next year."
Brad Sill (Spartanburg) led Upstate in the tournament, finishing in a tie for 13th individually. He started the round with a triple bogey on his second hole and despite getting a stroke back with a birdie on the 14th, carded an 81 to slip into a tie for 13th with a 226 total.
Adam Goins (Gaffney, S.C.) posted the best final round for Upstate, shooting a 75 on Wednesday. He had an adventurous day, carding four birdies and seven bogeys for his 3-over-par score. He finished tied for 29th with a 231 total. Matthew Hopper (Gaffney, S.C.) shot a 79 and finished tied for 18th with a 228 total, the second-lowest Spartan in the tournament.
Brian Horton (Boiling Springs, S.C.) shot an 83 Wednesday and finished tied for 38th with a 236 total. Tyler Comer (Spartanburg, S.C.) was playing in his final tournament as a member of the Upstate team. He has a year of eligibility remaining after redshirting as a freshman. But, he will graduate in two weeks with a degree from the George Dean Johnson, Jr., College of Business and Economics.
"Adam had a good round today and stuck to his game plan very well," said Lawton. "Brad had a good tournament overall. It was fun to see Tyler compete at Upstate over the last few years and I will miss him. But, I know he will be successful at whatever he chooses to do after college."
Stetson's Sam Ryder shot a 71 on Wednesday and won the individual championship with a 213 total.
