2020 All-South Atlantic Conference Men's Golf Awards
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Two Carson-Newman Eagles garnered All-South Atlantic Conference recognition on Wednesday, as announced by the league. Tom Forster landed first team honors and Alex Hodge picked up a second team accolade.
This is the fifth consecutive season that multiple Carson-Newman players have been named to All-SAC teams. The Eagles still lead the league with 44 all-time All-Conference awards, 25 first-team picks, 17 on the second team and a pair of honorable mentions.
Forster's latest accolade makes him the first player in program history to receive four consecutive first team honors. He is the fourth player in program history to be named a four-time All-SAC player, joining the ranks of Jake Headrick (2016-19) who landed three second team and one honorable mention laurel and Liam Ashby (2009-12) and Tanner Davis (2003-16) who each received three first team and a second team honors during their careers.
His fourth first team launches him into an elite group of SAC golfers who have been tabbed All-Conference first-team selections in all four years of their careers. Just two other golfers have received such recognition since the league started recognizing first and second team players in 1996. Lincoln Memorial's Sam Broadhurst was the most recent player to receive four straight first team honors from 2016-19 while Catawba's Adrian Marbry was the first from 1997-2000.
Forster led Carson-Newman this season with a 71.1 scoring clip through 18 rounds of play, starting in all six of the events he played at either the No. 1 or 2 position. He collected five-straight top 20 finishes with three in the top five. His senior campaign was highlighted by a dominant win at the North Georgia Fall Invitational where he scored a career-best 201, marking the second-lowest 54-hole score in South Atlantic Conference history. He closed the season at No. 51 on Golfstat's Division II player ranking.
The Northamptonshire, England native closed his career with four tournament wins, including the top medalist title at the 2018 SAC Championship. He received multiple accolades in his time at Mossy Creek including 2017 SAC Freshman of the Year with a trio of PING/NCAA All-Southeast and All-American titles.
In four seasons, Forster racked up a 71.8 scoring average with 13 top five finishes. He leaves C-N with the best career scoring average in program history. He also holds all four of the top spots for the best single season scoring average, besting his previous average each season.
The lone C-N event Forster missed not just this season but in his career came with good reason as he was vying for a spot in the 2020 Mackenzie Tour with PGA TOUR Canada at the beginning of March. In that qualifier, Forster used a fifth-place, one-under finish to be the lowest amateur in the field and qualify for a spot on the tour.
Not bad for @tomforster88, eh?@cnmensgolf's own used a fifth-place (-1) finish to be the lowest amateur in the field and qualify for a spot in the 2020 Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada season! pic.twitter.com/m0PYlzJMIW
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 7, 2020
Hodge's second team honor caps his debut season with the Eagles, posting the second-lowest scoring average on the team this season with a 72.7 through 15 rounds.
Through his seven event appearances, the Knoxville, Tenn. native made the starting lineup in five of those events with two at the No. 1 position. He collected three top 10 finishes with two in the top five, including a fourth-place debut at the Cougar Invitational to open the season. There is carded a four-under 209.
Hodge landed at sixth by the end of the season on the program's single-season scoring average list with his 72.7. He sat at No. 71 on the final Division II player ranking from Golfstat.
Forster and Hodge led the charge for a Carson-Newman squad that recorded the best 4-player team single-season scoring average in the program's recent history with a 291.4, besting the 2017-18 squad by half a stroke. Throughout the season, the Orange and Blue was ranked as high as No. 17 in the nation by February.
For all the latest news and notes surrounding the Carson-Newman men's golf team, be sure to check back to cneagles.com and @CNathletics on Twitter.
