GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - After a successful regular season, the no. 2/4 Carson-Newman men's golf team heads to Greeneville, Tenn. for the 2022 SAC Men's Golf Championships.
The three day tournament will consist of three rounds with each day beginning at 8:30 A.M. starting on Sunday, Apr. 10. Tee times will be announced for the next day following the completion of the round. The SAC squads will compete at the Graysburg Hills Country Club just outside of Greeneville, Tenn.
As usual, the South Atlantic Conference is stacked with ranked competition, including no. 3/5 Lincoln Memorial, no. 9/14 Limestone, and no. 25 Queens. Of the top-50 golfers in the Golfstat rankings in all of Division-II, seven of those play in the SAC, led by Luke Harries of Lincoln Memorial at no. 4.
The Eagles have been successful this season, finishing inside the top-five at every event they competed in this season and recording event wins at the Queens Fall Invitational and the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate. At Queens, the Carson-Newman recorded their first event win since 2019. The convocation's three round total of 827 was just enough to edge out the University of South Carolina Aiken by one stroke and give the Eagles sole posession of first place.
Carson-Newman's scoring was once again led by Alex Hodge. Hodge shot an even 71 with two birdies on the day. His three-round total of 204 was good enough to tie him for fifth place. Hodge was the highest finishing Eagle in Kannapolis this week.
C-N clinched a multi-event winning season for the first time since 2017-18 by winning the 2022 Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate. The Eagles shot 29-under par for the entire two-round tournament, shooting a 547 and defeating Division-I Oral Roberts by 12 strokes. The 272 second round score is the third lowest round in SAC history for men's golf.
"We've been growing towards this all year and really expected this type of team," says Director of Golf Randy Wylie. "Jonathan has played fantastic and the other guys have also played well. We have six guys with great averages and two of those are younger kids. We also have experience and they have a lot of confidence not just in themselves and every time we play expectations are high and we have beaten them all year. If we just keep doing what we're doing and take it one shot at a time."
The Eagles will tee off the first round at 11:50 AM, with Jackson Tyler teeing off first for the orange and blue. Tyler is averaging a single round score of 72.9, just at one-over this season. His highest finish this season was a 12th place finish at the Southern Tide Intercollegiate with a two-over 213. He shot a three-undder 141 at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate.
Will Collins tees off at 12:00 PM for the convocation. Playing most of the season as an individual, Collins did finish seventh at the Hurricane Invitational with a two-under 214. He is averaging a two-over par 73.2 this year.
Second team All-Conference pick Alex Hodge tees off at 12:10 PM. The senior out of Knoxville has recorded two top-10 finishes this season, carding a season-low seven-under 65 second round at the Queens Fall Invitational. Hodge finished fifth at the event with a nine-under 209, guiding the Eagles to an event championship. He also finished third at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate with an eight-under 136, just one stroke from a three-way tie for first.
Hodge is ranked 58th overall in the Golfstat rankings, shooting an average even-par 72.60 this year.
Jake Mynatt tees off at 12:20 PM on Sunday. The Knoxville native has recorded three top-10 finishes this season, including the highest finish of any Eagle at the Tennessee River Rumble event, finishing tied for sixth with a three-under 213. The junior finished fifth at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate event with a seven-under 137.
Mynatt is ranked 60th in the Golfstat rankings with a 72.61 average this season.
Jonathan Nielsen tees off last at 12:30 PM. Nielsen has been on a tear this season for the Eagles, recording four top-10 finishes. The Hørsholm, Denmark native set a new course record at the Atlanta Country Club earlier this season, with a nine-under, 63 in the second round of the Southern Tide Intercollegiate. Nielsen went on to win the individual event championship at the tournament with a seven-under 209 for the week.
Nielsen is ranked as the ninth-best golfer in all of Division-II according to Golfstat. The sophomore as shot an average one-under 71.29 this season.
"This course is not the longest course in the world, so this week will be about accuracy and maintaining confidence," says Wylie. "We just have to bring our A game because this is one off the toughest conferences in the nation."
Opening round play of the 2022 SAC men's golf championship begins for the field at 8:30 am. Fans can follow along with live stats via BirdieFire on all three days here.
