UTC Men's Golf Finishes Strong In Dalton

  • Sunday, September 10, 2017

The Chattanooga Mocs moved past Virginia in the final round to finish 13th in the Carpet Capital Collegiate. UTC turned in an even-par 288 for a 54-hole total of 892.

Luke Long turned in the Mocs first round in the 60s with a 3-under 69. He was supported today by Phillip Hickam’s 70, while Will Porter and A.J. Lintunen contributed 74 and 75, respectively. Lake Johnson’s 79 was the drop score.

Long’s round started fast off the 10th tee.

Birdies at 11, 14 and 15 sandwiched an eagle on 12 and par at 13. The 5-under start was just the spark the Mocs needed.

A spate of bogeys leveled the crew to a 2-over total through 12 holes. Six birdies over the final six holes got the Mocs to level par for the day. Hickam was big over that stretch. Playing his first 12 at 1 over, he birdied four, six and seven to reach 2 under.

Long finished tied for 24th at 1-over 217. Hickam tied for 31st at 219. Porter turned in 225, six better than Lintunen’s 231 in his first collegiate action. Johnson shot 236.

Georgia Tech and Alabama dueled to the finish. Each ended up with 850 (-14) totals with the Yellow Jackets claiming the win in a playoff. Auburn was third at 854. All three shot up the leaderboard behind final 18 279s.

Florida’s Alejandro Tosti was the wire-to-wire winner. He turned in 71 in day three for an 11-under 205, two strokes better than Bryson Nimmer from Clemson.

NOTES

Three notes to know from the Carpet Capital Collegiate…

-       Today’s 288 is the best team score at the Farm since 282 (-6) in 2014’s second 18. Best final round tally in the event for the Mocs matching 2009 during a runner-up finish.

-       Long shot 4-under after an opening 77. His 69 today matched his career best from his freshman campaign at SIUE in 2016-17.

-       Hickam and Porter joined Long playing par or better over the final 36 holes with both shooting even.

QUOTABLE

Head Coach Mark Guhne on...

Last 36 Holes:

"Great job by our guys putting that first 18 behind us. That's not easy to do. We competed with the best teams in the country over the last 36, but 36 is not enough."

Opening 18:

"That wasn't us. This place can eat you up when you're not on. That's what happened. We got off to a bad start, and it just got out of hand. We had an inexperienced group there, but they grew up fast."

On what's to come:

"I was excited about our group coming into this weekend and nothing's changed. We'll work hard to find the right five. That's not to say this isn't it, but we have a lot of competition to play week-in, week-out. That's healthy."

NEXT UP

Chattanooga returns to the course in two weeks at the Shoal Creek Invitational in Birmingham. The two-day, 54-hole tourney is played Sept. 25-26 at Shoal Creek Club.

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ABOUT CHATTANOOGA GOLF
The Chattanooga Mocs golf program has won six Southern Conference Championships (1987, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013) since joining the league in 1977-78. The Mocs have twice been ranked No. 1 in the nation during the falls of 2008 and 2009. It boasts:
- 4 NCAA Championships Appearances: 1993 (Individual-Neil Connolly), 2009, 2012, 2014 (Individual-Chris Robb).
- 3 All-Americans: Jonathan Hodge (2008), Stephan Jaeger (2012) and Chris Robb (2014).
- 1 NCAA Regionals Team Title: 2012 Bowling Green.
- 1 NCAA Regionals Medalist: Stephan Jaeger (2012 Bowling Green).
- 8 NCAA Regionals Team Appearances: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
- 3 NCAA Regionals Individual Appearances: Neil Connolly (1992, 1993) and Wes Gosselin (2016).
- 2 Top 25 season-ending rankings: 2008 (12) and 2009 (25).
- 1 PGA TOUR Member: Stephan Jaeger (2018).
- 1 United States Amateur Champion: Steven Fox (2012).
- 1 Scottish Amateur Champion: Chris Robb (2014).
- 8 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars: Derek Rende (2009, 2010), Jaeger (2011, 2012), Gosselin (2016, 2017), Phillip Hickam (2017) and Stuart Thomas (2017).
- 2 SoCon Champions: Donnie Green (1978) and Jaeger (2012).
- 5 SoCon Golfers of the Year: Hodge (2007, 2008) and Jaeger (2010, 2011, 2012).
- 3 SoCon Freshman of the Years – Rende (2007), Jaeger (2009) and Andrew Weathers (2015).

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