The No. 7 Lee men's golf team fired a 295 to finish in a tie for fourth place at the Tennessee River Rumble on Tuesday from the Tennessee National Golf Club. The Tournament was originally scheduled for 54 holes but was shortened to just 18 holes due to wet weather conditions over the last few days.
Senior Matt Strube made his presence felt playing as an individual as he shot a 3-under-par 69 to finish in the third place. The Germantown, Tenn. native was named to the All-Tournament joining medalist winner David Whinery of Tusculum (67), Sam Broadhurst (68) and Harry Boyle (69) of Lincoln Memorial, Tom Forester of Carson-Newman (71) and Jarett Stowe of Wingate (71).
The No.
18 Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial captured the team title with a 288. The No. 26 Eagles finished second at 292 while Mars Hill placed third with a 293. The Flames tied with Wingate for fourth place.
"It was a really tough situation this week, you really hate to see just an 18 hole tournament," said head coach John Maupin. "Honestly we played very well on the front side today and we just had a poor performance on the back. We're not going to read too much into just one round from a finish standpoint. We do have some areas that we need to work on a clean up over the next few weeks."
Adam Wright led the Flames with an even-par 72. Shea Sylvester, coming off winning the North Alabama Spring Tournament last week, fired a 73 and finished tied for 15th. Matt Johnson carded a 74 and Corey Sheppard penciled in a 76 to round out the team scoring.
"We have been counting too many big numbers, and have struggled to get a good fourth score at times, but those are things we can fix. I'm looking forward to some prep time over the next few weeks," noted Maupin.
Next up for Lee is the Gulf South Conference Championship from Pine Mountain, Ga., April 23-25. Last season the Flames pushed West Florida to two playoff holes before coming up a stroke short and settling for second place. The two programs looked poised for another clash with both teams ranked in the top 10 heading to post season play.
Playing in its final tune up before the Gulf South Conference Championship the Lee women's golf team fired a 293 to jump from fourth to second place in the final round of the Argonaut Invitational hosted by the University of West Florida on Tuesday afternoon from the Marcus Pointe Golf Club.
The No. 14 Lady Flames leapfrogged No. 25 Florida Southern and No. 36 Limestone College to claim the runner-up spot behind the No. 13 Argonauts. West Florida posted a 575 team total finishing 26 strokes ahead of the Lady Flames (601). Teammates Lauren Lamm (71,71) and Fabiana Salazar (69, 73) tied for the individual title forcing a playoff. Salazar would go on to win the first playoff hole over Lamm to win the medalist honor. The Mocs (608), Saints (609) and Northeastern State (616) rounded out the top five.
"We were much sharper today and came out of the gates looking more determined after a bit of a struggle in round one," said assistant coach Hunter Vest. All five players were in great positions for the majority of their rounds and were a couple missed opportunities on the greens away from really posting a low round."
Junior Sam Burrus led Lady Flames with a 73 and finished tied for 11th. Junior Caroline Moore carded a 74 and was tied for fifth with a 146 total after she help steady the ship in round one with an even-par 72. Freshman Annika Gino was consistent as she tallied a 75 in both rounds to finish in seventh while fellow freshman Anne Hedegaard rebounded nicely from an opening round 80 to post a 74 in round two and finish 15th. Haverly Harrold went 79, 77 to give Lee five players in the top 20 individually.
I was happy to see our team move on from a couple miscues and not let any adversity they faced get them down," added Vest. "We knew there were several birdies to be had and couldn't let a bogey here or there get them down. Patience played a big role in our round throughout the lineup. Overall this was a very good round with several positives to take from it and we plan to keep the momentum rolling into the conference tournament in two weeks."
The Lady Flames will head into the GSC Tournament as hot as any team in the country. Prior to today's second place finish Lee had won three-straight tournaments this Spring. The Lady Flames captured victories at the Las Vegas Desert Classic, Skyhawk Invitational and the Bobby Nichols Collegiate.
The conference tournament will be held in Pine Mountain, Ga. The 54-hole event will take place April 23-25. Last season Lee finished just one stroke back of tournament champion West Florida.