The Chattanooga Mocs made a final round charge for the ages, but it was not meant to be. The Mocs 10-under 278 today could not overcome the ETSU 4-stroke lead heading into the final round.
“I said to Nick (asst. coach Robinson) last night,” Coach Blaine Woodruff began. “If we shoot double digits under par, we’re going to win it or ETSU is going to earn it. Unfortunately, it was the latter. You have to take your hat off to them.
“But I’m extremely proud of my guy’s fight and determination.”
Much like round one, he Bucs got off to a torrid start.
They built their lead to at least 14 shots before the turn. However, the Mocs bounced back yet again. Three birdies at 10 and ETSU coming back down to earth after making the turn at 13 under shrunk the gap.
It got to five, then four and then just one for those following along on Golfstat. Then for a moment, the Mocs had a one stroke lead. The Bucs found a way to salvage the win on the final few holes after such a tight dual throughout.
“It’s never one shot or one person in a moment like this,” Woodruff added. “Our guys played their tails off, so I liked seeing their fight and the way they clawed their way back into it. It was almost kind of like we were just feeding off each other the last two days and making a bunch of birdies. They've got some really good players, but we do too. It's kind of just back and forth, and we knew it was going to be a slug fest in the end."
The Mocs finished second shooting 28-under 839 on the Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee. ETSU’s 30 under led the way. UNCG was a distant third at 8 under, while Furman came in fourth at level par. Mercer rounded out the top five at 10 over.
Paul Conroy led the way with 5-under 67 today. Samuel Espinosa shot 69 with Braedon Wear and John Houk tallying 71 apiece. Garrett Engle had the drop score of 78.
Houk and Espinosa tied for third at 205, two off the lead set by co-medalists Mats Ege and Matty Dodd-Berry from ETSU. Conroy was fifth at 208. Wear ended up with 221 ahead of Engle’s 225.
The Mocs now await word of their NCAA Regionals location. Stay in touch with GoMocs.com for details in the coming weeks.
SoCon Championships
April 21-23 (Sun-Tue) | Eatonton, Ga. | 54 holes (18 per day)
Oconee Course | Par 72 | 7,174 yards
1) ETSU: 275-279-280=834 (-30)
2) Chattanooga: 284-274-278=836 (-28)
3) UNCG: 290-283-283=856 (-8)
4) Furman: 286-291-287=864 (E)
5) Mercer: 296-288-290=874 (+10)
6) Wofford: 300-280-297=877 (+13)
7) Samford: 302-300-287=889 (+25)
8) Western Carolina: 305-294-294=893 (+29)
Mocs:
T3) John Houk: 69-65-71=205 (-11)
T3) Samuel Espinosa: 67-69-69-205 (-1)
5) Paul Conroy: 73-68-67=208 (-8)
T22) Braedon Wear: 76-74-71=221 (+5)
T30) Garrett Engle: 75-72-78=225 (+9)
Field (Top 100 ranking)
(43) Chattanooga, (20) ETSU, (83) Furman, Mercer, (40) UNCG, Samford, Western Carolina, Wofford