Chattanooga Mocs senior Braedon Wear and freshman Ethan Whitaker are big believers in “sharing is caring”. On Tuesday, the duo from the Knoxville area shared the individual trophy at the Bentwater Intercollegiate. On Wednesday, they added coveted Southern Conference Golfer of the Week to the list of accolades.
Wear, a native of Maryville, Tenn., and Whitaker, from Knoxville, both shot 5-under 208 for the week with par or better rounds on each card.
Their efforts turned the Mocs fortunes around in the event.
The group trailed by 14 after 18 holes Monday before closing to within 10 heading into Tuesday’s final 18. They quickly made-up ground on host Sam Houston eventually leading by four before settling for the 1-stroke victory.
Whitaker had the fireworks right from the start Tuesday morning. He aced his first hole, the par 3 fourth in a shotgun start, draining an 8 iron from 187 yards out. That started the rally which helped finish with birdie at the second, his 17th hole of the day.
Wear capped off a fantastic week with the only round in the 60s in a rain-soaked final rounds. There were 23 on the first day emphasizing how easy he made a difficult life at the Miller Course at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club look. He had 12 birdies and just seven bogeys over the three cards playing par or better on 47 of 54 holes (87%).
“We’re happy for ‘BW’ and ‘E’ to get POTW honors,” Coach Blaine Woodruff shared. “They both deserve it. We’re really proud of how both have assessed the gaps between where they are and where they want to be with their games and attacked them. We talked about that not necessarily leading to immediate results, but this week the results came.
“Proud of both of them.”
It was Wear’s second career win and Whitaker’s first. Wear is the 10th Moc all-time to post two or more career victories. He was also SoCon Golfer of the Week on Sept. 29, 2021 after winning the J.T. Poston Invitational.
This is the third SoCon GOTW honor for the program this season. Camden Braidech won on Oct. 16 for his leading the Mocs to the Qubein Cup sweeping medalist as well. Carson Johnson claimed his on Oct. 30 for a career-best performance at the Steelwood Collegiate.
Next Up
March 2-3: Colleton River Intercollegiate | Colleton River Club | Bluffton, S.C. (Michigan State)