University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Wendy''s Kiawah Classic
Upstate's Cornfield co-Champion at Wendy's Kiawah Classic
11/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Kiawah Island, S.C. – With a school record-tying round of 6-under 66, USC Upstate standout men's golfer Ryan Cornfield won a share of the individual championship at the Wendy's Kiawah Classic Tuesday afternoon on the Turtle Point Course at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
Cornfield won his first collegiate tournament after finishing second three different times in his career. He also has three third-place efforts and one fourth-place finish. He shared medalist honors with Georgia Southern's Scott Wolfes. The two finished the tournament 6-under with a 210 total. Both also went low on Tuesday. Cornfield entered the day tied for sixth at even-par and improved his position by five spots. Wolfes began the day in a tie for 19th at 3-over, but carded a 63 to improve his position by 18 places and tie Cornfield for the title.
Cornfield's efforts were impressive to say the least. After two solid rounds of 72, he caught fire on Tuesday. Starting his round on the back nine, he birdied five holes, including three of his last four, to go out at 5-under 31. He recorded back-to-back birdies on the front nine on No. 4 and No. 5 to move to 7-under for the round. He gave a shot back with a bogey on No. 8, his next-to-last hole, and finished with a 66. Cornfield's 66 moved him to the top of the leaderboard while he waited for three players ranked in the Top 65 in the nation to finish their rounds to see if any of them would catch him. While he tied 52nd-ranked Wolfes, he topped No. 12 Zach Seabolt (-4, Winthrop) and No. 65 Tomasz Anderson (-5, Jacksonville State).
Not only did Cornfield's 66 move him to the top of the leaderboard, it also was a record-tying round. He tied the Upstate school record for most shots under-par in a round, tying former players McKenzie Oref and Brad Sill for the honor. Cornfield already owns the school's all-time low round, a 65 at the Camden Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 18 on a par-70 course. Cornfield is now the eighth different Upstate golfer to win an individual championship since the program was re-established in 2005-06. All-time great and current assistant coach Josh Gallman owns the all-time school record with seven career wins.
"Well, it's a relief to get the expectations (of a win) off my shoulders," said Cornfield. "I have wanted to win for a long time. I played well enough to win other tournaments and just couldn't break through. I am really happy to get the job done."
"Today was the culmination of an incredible amount of work for Ryan," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "The field was strong individually and well-respected nationally. His win is certainly well-deserved."
Cornfield's effort helped Upstate shoot a 289 in the final round and move up three positions to finish eighth. The 289 was the lowest round of the fall season for the Spartans and the fifth-lowest round of the day among the 20 teams in the tournament. Upstate counted scores of 66 from Cornfield, 73 from Taylor White, 74 from Andrew Purcell and 76 from Sebastian Lopez Bulla. Tom Schofield carded an 81 for the best round of his tournament. Upstate combined to make 20 birdies on the day and a season-high 52 for the tournament. White, Purcell and Schofield each made four birdies in their rounds, while Lopez Bulla added three.
Winthrop won the team title with an 864 total over 54 holes. The Eagles finished four shots ahead of Georgia Southern at 868. Marquette and Missouri tied for third at 878 and were followed on the leaderboard by Jacksonville State (881), GRU Augusta (881), Presbyterian (885), Upstate (886), Charleston Southern (887), Richmond (889), Radford (890), Coastal Carolina (891), Gardner-Webb (895), George Washington (904), Temple (906), Creighton (916), High Point (919), Western Kentucky (919), Appalachian State (931) and Bethune-Cookman (939).
"Andrew finished strong today and Taylor was solid after his first hole," said Lawton. "Our team score was one of the best of the day and you want to get better each day, which we did. Finishing the fall on a high note is nice."
White was the second-best Spartan in the tournament, finishing in a tie for 35th at 224. Lopez Bulla claimed a tie for 43rd at 225, while Purcell finished tied for 51st with a 227 total. Upstate finished the tournament second with 53 birdies and in par-5 scoring at 19-under. Cornfield and Lopez Bulla were each 7-under on par-5 holes to lead the Spartan cause.
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