Chattanooga Mocs senior John Houk claimed this week’s Southern Conference Golfer of the Week honor with an impressive runner-up performance at the General Hackler Championships. The Athens, Tenn., native fired rounds 67, 74 and 68 for a 9-under total besting all but one in a strong field.
It’s his third runner-up finish of 2023-24 and second in a row (Colleton River Collegiate). Houk has four top 3 finishes this season and five total since joining the program from Tennessee Wesleyan in August 2022.
He is 30 under for the campaign, 20 under for the spring semester (11 rounds).
His 68 was the 40th par or better card of his Mocs career, 78th total including his time with the Bulldogs.
"Congrats to John on earning Player of the Week honors," Coach Blaine Woodruff said. "He had a great event at The Hackler and played a really solid final round giving him a chance to win before ultimately ending up with his 3rd runner up finish of the year. Proud of his fight and his attitude out there. It's only a matter of time with him continuing to knock on the door for (a win) to happen again."
Houk went 17-0 vs SoCon competition (ETSU, Furman, Western Carolina), 21-0 if including his teammates. He beat opponents by an average of 14.4 strokes per 18. His 69.67 scoring average for the event was 4.66 shots better than a field that included four top 50 and 11 top 100 teams in the NCAA ratings.
Individually, he beat four top 100 golfers: No. 7 Mats Ege (6 shots), No. 43 Algot Kleen (10), No. 62 Walker Isley (6) and No. 82 Robbie Higgins (10). Houk rose 17 spots in the latest NCAA individual ratings to No. 53 in the country.
It’s the third SoCon weekly honor of his career and fourth for the Mocs in 2023-24:
Sept. 20: Paul Conroy (GOTW)
Sept.: Sam Espinosa (GOTM)
Oct. 26: Paul Conroy (GOTW)
March 27: John Houk (GOTW)