The 2017 season ended for the Lee men's golf team on Wednesday afternoon in the third and final round of the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional being staged at the demanding Robert Trent Jones at the Shoals course.
As expected, West Florida captured team honors (843), Florida Southern was second (854), followed by Lynn University (859). Florida Tech (872), Barry University (875), Newberry College (882) and North Alabama (883) advanced to the final round of national tournament play.
The Flames finished the final 18 with a 301 and walked away with a 54-hole tally of 897.
Senior Adam Wright and junior Corey Sheppard paced the team scoring. Wright closed out the tournament with a 75 and a 223 total. Sheppard had Lee’s best round of the tournament (1-under 71) and also tallied 223. Sophomore Matt Johnson followed with a 77 on Wednesday and closed with a 232. Senior Shea Sylvester finished Wednesday’s play with a 78 and a 227 total. Freshman Scott Odell carded a 77 and rounded out his first year with a 232.
Florida Southern’s John VanDerLaan (201) upset West Florida’s Chandler Blanchet (203) to grab the medalist title. West Florida’s Jacob Huizinga (206) was third. Nova Southeastern’s Richard Mansell (209) placed fourth and Newberry College’s Carlos Leandro (210) rounded out the top scores.
“We certainly had higher hopes for the week,” said head coach John Maupin. “Our guys had been playing really well, and this is a course that we've traditionally been very successful on.
“We just didn't execute well, and it appeared to be one of our worst tournaments off the tee - just didn't drive the ball well. It's golf, sometimes it's just not there. We had very little spurts of momentum this week, which was bad timing. The guys gave it everything they had.
It's a disappointing finish, but it's been another successful season. We're going to keep learning from these regional experiences and use it to get through next time.
“A couple of great careers ended for us today. This program owes a great deal of gratitude to Shea Sylvester and Adam Wright,” Maupin added. “They have taken the program to new heights and been major contributors on the course the last four years. As a team we're going to miss them.”