2012-13 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook | Page 26

Five PBC Men’ s Golf Teams to Play in NCAA Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Five Peach Belt Conference men’ s golf teams learned that they will compete in the NCAA Tournament as the national office released the field of 80 teams and 32 individuals on Friday. USC Aiken won the PBC Tournament and gathered the league’ s automatic bid. Columbus State, Georgia College, Armstrong and Georgia Southwestern will also compete in the South / Southeast Regional. Four individuals were also selected to compete, Montevallo’ s Conner Godsey is the lone selection from the Peach Belt.

The regional will take place Monday, May 6 through Wednesday, May 8. The regional will be contested at the par-72, 6,928-yard El Campeon golf course at the Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. The regional is being co-hosted by the Sunshine State Conference and the Central Florida Sports Commission.

The South / Southeast Regional consists of 10 teams each from both the South and Southeast regions of NCAA Division II. The top four individuals from each region not with a team were also selected.

The three-day, 54-hole regional will feature one round each day. Action will get underway at 7:30 a. m. each day. Admission is free each day.

USC Aiken will be vying to make its 17th appearance in the NCAA Division II Men’ s Golf Championship in the South / Southeast regional. The Pacers will make the 21st appearance in the NCAA Regional. Georgia College returns for the 16th year in a row while Columbus State continues their streak of reaching the NCAA regional each year they have been a part of the PBC, going for the 22nd time in a row. Armstrong returns for the 11th straight year while Georgia Southwestern makes their second straight appearance.

Georgia College, USC Aiken and UNC Pembroke all reached the NCAA National Championships in 2012 with GC and USCA each advancing to the match play quarterfinals. 2012 was the first year of the match play format, which pits team against team following 54 holes of stroke play.

The top seven teams and top two student-athletes not with a team from each regional( regardless of region) after stroke play in the 2013 NCAA South / Southeast Regional will advance to the finals May 20-24 at the par-71, 7,061-yard East Course at the Hershey Country Club in Hershey, Pa.

Columbus State, USC Aiken Reach NCAA Men’ s Golf National Championship

HOWIE-IN-THE-HILLS, FLA-- The Columbus State Cougars and USC Aiken Pacers were both among the top seven teams in the NCAA men’ s golf South / Southeast Super Regional and have earned spots in the NCAA National Championships. CSU finished in a tie for third in the 20-team field at the super regional, held at the Mission Inn Golf & Tennis Resort in Howie-In-The-Hills, Fla. USC Aiken finished seventh with a third-round 293. Georgia Southwestern’ s Nate Gahman also qualified for the national championships as an individual after competing in a playoff.

Both teams advance to the 2013 NCAA Division II Men’ s Golf Championship, May 20-24 at the par-71, 7,061-yard East Course at the Hershey Country Club in Hershey, Pa.

Georgia College finished in ninth at the super regional while Georgia Southwestern was tied for 10th and Armstrong Atlantic State tied for 14th.

First Team Matt Atkins, USC Aiken Nate Gahman, Georgia Southwestern Jesse Gibson, Columbus State J. P. Griffin, Georgia Southwestern Jordan McColl, Lander Taylor Smith, Georgia College J. P. Solis, USC Aiken Shad Tuten, Armstrong

Second Team Patrick Garrett, Georgia College Conner Godsey, Montevallo Bryan Lichimo, Columbus State Robert Mize, Columbus State Michael Mullmann, UNC Pembroke Rob Prior, Lander Spencer Schindler, Flagler Gus Wagoner, Armstrong

Player of the Year Matt Atkins, USC Aiken

co-Freshman of the Year Spencer Schindler, Flagler Dalton Skinner, Montevallo

Coach of the Year Michael Carlisle, USC Aiken

After posting CSU’ s drop score on Tuesday, Yannick Gumowski carded the first under-par round of the tournament for the Cougars as he came in with a one-under 71. Starting on the back nine, Gumowski jumped out of the gates with four birdies in the first nine holes making the turn at four-under. The front nine was a little more difficult as he gave shots back on holes two, four and six but was still able to end the day in red figures. His strong finish to the tournament tied him for 28th place at seven-over par.

Bryan Lichimo’ s good play Tuesday carried over to Wednesday’ s final round as he fired a final round 73. It was an up-and-down start for the redshirt-sophomore as he birdied his opening hole before posting a double-bogey and bogey on the next two, respectively. A birdie on 14 and another later in the round brought him back to even, but a late bogey on seven put him over par. Due to a rough round one, Lichimo finished tied for 49th at 11-over.

Matching Lichimo’ s round of one-over Wednesday was Jesse Gibson. The redshirt-sophomore made a bogey at 12 before birdies at 14 and 18 put him under par as he made the turn. On the front side, Gibson made three bogeys sandwiched around a birdie at six to leave him with a final round 73. Gibson was 10-over for the three rounds and tied for 45th.

Freshman Jack Stumpfig proved to be the most consistent golfer for CSU over the three rounds as he posted a two-over 74 Wednesday after rounds of 74 and 75 over the first two days. Stumpfig made the turn under par after two birdies and just one bogey through the first nine

holes. However, the front nine proved to be more difficult as it did for the other CSU golfers. After a birdie on one, he lost shots with four bogeys over the final seven holes. Stumpfig finished seven-over for the tournament tied with Gumowski in 28th.

After firing the low rounds on Monday and Tuesday for CSU, Robert Mize shot the Cougars’ drop score in the final round. All looked well for the freshman as he had three birdies and just a lone bogey over his first 11 holes. From there, he stumbled with bogeys on three and five and double-bogeys on four and eight to finish the round at six-over. Even with his struggles in the final round, Mize was Columbus State’ s top finisher for the tournament finishing in 21st place at six-over par.

The Cougars will be back in familiar territory in the NCAA Championship as their 32 appearances are the second most in Division II history. Columbus State has won six national championships to go along with eight runner-up and five third place finishes.

USC Aiken will be making its 17th appearance in the NCAA Division II Men’ s Golf Championship.

USC Aiken concluded the 2013 NCAA Division II South / Southeast Regional with a three-round team score of 891( 295-303-293).

USC Aiken was led in the South / Southeast Regional by JP Solis( Morelia, Mexico / Lico Morelia), who finished tied for fourth individually at 1-under 215( 72-70-73). The top-5 finish was the second of the year for Solis.

Mark Dickson( Edinburgh, Scotland / Firrhill) put together the round of the day for USC Aiken on Wednesday to finish tied for 21st. Dickson’ s 3-under 69 in round three allowed him to finish with a three-round score of 222( 76-77-69).

Taylor Welborn( LaGrange, Ga./ Darton) closed out the regional with a three-round score of 232( 81-76-75) for the Pacers, while Hayden Letien( Sumter, S. C./ Sumter HS) posted a three-round tally of 233( 77-80-76).

USC Aiken’ s Matt Atkins( Owensboro, Ky./ Henderson State) concluded the three rounds of the South / Southeast Regional with a three-round score of 235( 70-82-83).

Gahman shot an even-par 72 with birdies on four of his first six holes to finish in a tie for eighth. The top two individuals not on an advancing team move on to the nationals, but Gahman, Belmont Abbey’ s Adam Hedges and Barton’ s Daniel Claytor were all tied for eighth place at 219.

The three players began a playoff to see which two would go to Hershey. After all three had par on the 18th hole, they turned to the first hole where Gahman and Hedges had par, and Claytor a bogey to fall out of contention.

National No. 1 Nova Southeastern claimed top team honors at the South / Southeast Regional with a three-round team score of 855( 287-284-284). National No. 2 Barry finished second at 871( 284-296-291).

Nova Southeastern’ s Ben Taylor( 70-71-69 = 210) held off teammate Ricardo Celia( 69-72-70 = 211) for individual medalist honors at the South / Southeast Regional.

USC Aiken Men’ s Golf Tied for Fourth at NCAAs; Advance to Match Play Quarterfinals

HERSHEY, Pa. – The nationally fifth-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken men’ s golf team finished tied for fourth as a team after the final round of stroke play at the 2013 NCAA Division II Men’ s Golf Championship at the par-71, 6,984-yard East Course at the Hershey Country Club. With the tie for fourth, USC Aiken advances to the national quarterfinals for the second straight year. Columbus State finished in 13th place in the 20-team field and will not be advancing to the match play bracket.

USC Aiken( 298-292-298) and seventh-ranked Lynn( 290-301-297) both finished tied for fourth at 888. The two teams will now meet in the national quarterfinals on Thursday, May 23. The two teams will start their match play quarterfinal at 7:30 a. m. on Thursday on hole No. 10. The match will consist of five points with one point being awarded for each individual match.

USC Aiken was led in stroke play at the 2013 NCAA Division II Men’ s Golf Championship by Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year Matt Atkins. Atkins( 70-69-72) finished the three rounds of stroke play tied with Florida Southern’ s Tim Crouch( 71-71-69) and Western Washington’ s Jake Webb( 71-75-65).

The trio went to a playoff, but Atkins bowed out on the first playoff hole. Crouch would go on to claim individual medalist honors on the second playoff hole.

All five of USC Aiken’ s finished in the top-65 with Taylor Welborn

Elite 15 Award Michael Mullmann, UNC Pembroke

Honorable Mentions Cameron Medina, Young Harris