ORANGEBURG, SC – The Carson-Newman men's golf team used another consistent day to finish in 4th, shooting its best round of the tournament with a 289 in the final round of the SAC Championships.
Junior Elliot MacGregor led the Eagles throughout, notching his first top-five finish of the season. He tied for 4th following a 71-stroke effort in the final round and finished the event at 3-over.
"We were led by a very fine fourth-place finish from Elliot," head coach Randy Wylie said. "I felt really good about Elliot's tournament and the team's finish… It was a solid finish in a tough conference field."
MacGregor was stellar in his final round, stroking just two holes over par on the front nine before a birdie on hole nine to sit at 1-over heading into the final nine holes. The junior shot seven of nine holes at par on the back nine. He stroked a birdie and a bogey, which canceled out, putting his third-round total at 1-over.
Noah Cambridge tied for 11th, shooting a 72 in the final round to put his total at 7-over for the tournament.
It was a steady final round from the freshman, negating three early bogeys on the front nine with three consecutive birdies to put him at even par after the first nine holes. Cambridge started the back nine, shooting the first seven holes at par before two bogeys to end the round, adding two strokes to his total to finish the round at 2-over.
Aidan Powter and Luke Stock tied for 19th after similar performances on the final day of action, finishing at 11-over.
Shooting a 73 in the third round, Powter shot his first seven holes at par before a triple bogey on hole eight. However, he responded nicely with a birdie on the following hole to finish the front nine at 2-over. On the back nine, Powter shot six of the nine holes at par and limited the damage of two bogeys with a birdie on hole 17 to finish the day at 3-over.
Like Powter, Stock had a nice stretch of pars on the front nine, responding to a bogey on hole two with six consecutive pars, followed by a bogey on hole nine to sit at 2-over entering the final nine holes. On the back nine, despite adding two strokes, Stock finished nicely with a birdie on hole 18 to finish the day at 4-over.
Nick Daugherty moved up a few spots with a solid final round to tie for 39th, shooting a 73 to finish the event at 19-over.
Daugherty was consistently at par throughout the front nine, shooting seven of the nine holes at par. However, he added two strokes with a pair of bogeys to finish the front nine at 2-over. On the back nine, Daugherty started nicely with a birdie on hole 11. Daugherty shot two bogeys down the stretch but shot the remaining holes at par to finish the round at 3-over.
With a solid finish at the SAC Championships, the Eagles will await their postseason fate. In the latest regional ranking, C-N sat at No. 11 in the Southeast Region and likely did itself some good with a stellar performance this week.
