DAHLONEGA, Ga – It took Nickalus Kennedy (London, Ontario, Canada) four extra holes, but the Carson-Newman junior won the North Georgia Fall Invitational with a seven-under 209.
Kennedy's final-round 69 placed him into a sudden-death playoff with Georgia Southwestern State's Chris Low. Four pars on four consecutive holes propelled Kennedy to the tournament win.
Kennedy's win was the first individual win for a men's golfer since Gavin Hay won the Tusculum Invitational in March 2013.
"I obviously played well this week. The key was to trust the hard work I put in. My hard work paid off," Kennedy said. "Actually, I was not confident heading into the tournament but I trusted what I knew and it paid off."
Carson-Newman finished the tournament three shots over par and fourth-place on the leaderboard. The Eagles finished eight shots behind tournament winner Lander.
But Kennedy was not the only Eagle to finish in the top-10.
Junior Andrew Hall (Knoxville, Tenn.) shot his second 71 of the tournament to finish at two-under 214, placing him ninth.
Peach State native Dalton Reese (Warrenton, Ga.) finished at six-over to finish the tournament tied for 30th.
Freshman Ben Kennard (Corryton, Tenn.) shot his collegiate low 72 during the final round. Kennard finished one shot ahead of classmate Steven Hill (Knoxville, Tenn.) who finished with a final round 79.
"I am very proud of how our team competed against really tough competition," coach Randy Wylie said. "Particularly proud of Nick; he hung in there and closed the deal. He was a rock in a pressure situation, sudden-death."
The Eagles return to the course next week in Tazewell, Tenn. at the 2014 State Farm Intercollegiate at Woodlake Golf Club.
4 Carson-Newman 288 291 288 867 (+3)
T-1 Nick Kennedy 68 72 69 209 (-7)
9 Andrew Hall 71 72 71 214 (-2)
T-30 Dalton Reese 72 74 76 222 (+6)
T-52 Ben Kennard 77 80 72 229 (+13)
T-56 Steven Hill 78 73 79 230 (+14)
-CN-
