Forster advances to NCAA Final, #20 Eagles finish tied for ninth
CONOVER, N.C. – For the first time in head coach Randy Wylie’s tenure, Carson-Newman will be represented in the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championship as Tom Forster (Oundle, England) advances while the rest of the No. 20 Eagles land in a tie for ninth-place at the 2018 NCAA Division II Men’s South/Southeast Regional at the Rock Barn Country Club on Wednesday.
VIDEO: Randy Wylie Interview
VIDEO: Tom Forster Interview
CONOVER, N.C. – For the first time in head coach Randy Wylie's tenure, Carson-Newman will be represented in the NCAA Division II Men's Golf National Championship as Tom Forster (Oundle, England) advances while the rest of the No. 20 Eagles land in a tie for ninth-place at the 2018 NCAA Division II Men's South/Southeast Regional at the Rock Barn Country Club on Wednesday.
The Eagles closed out the tournament at 31 shots over par with an 883 total. In the final round, the team was +14, notching their highest round of the event at 298. This is the second straight year that the Eagles have left the regional with a ninth-place finish.
"Today was disappointing. We were in position to make a run and make national championships as a team and we just didn't get the job done today," Wylie said. "Kind of a disappointing end but we had a really good spring. I was really pleased with how the guys played all spring. We just didn't quite finish it out in the style we would have liked to today."
Tom Forster (Oundle, England) found some struggles in the final round with a +6 round of 77 that landed him in a tie for 15th, a 13-spot drop from Tuesday. The sophomore started fairly strong with a bogey and a pair of birdies that sandwiched a double bogey but a triple bogey on 18 pushed him to four -over in the back nine. After the turn, he regained momentum for the most part, shooting two shots over.
"I made some really dumb errors that I haven't made all week, haven't made all year, really," Forster said of his performance. "I don't know if it was pressure or the heat of the moment, just trying to go through things. I just couldn't pull through with them. I just did too many stupid things that led to too many errors."
Forster was one over for the event, allowing him to be one of the top two individuals not on an advancing team to move on to the national final. The other to make it was Carlos Leandro of Newberry.
"Tom played really, really well. He had two wins this spring which was terrific," Wylie said. "He had two really fine rounds here and just stumbled a bit, had two bad holes, had a double and a triple -- stuff he hardly ever does."
Jackson Tyler (Wilmington, N.C.) carded a birdie, bogey and doubled on the fifth hole for a +2 showing in the early afternoon. Later on, he was able to even out his score, holding him at just two-shots over par on the day with a 73, good enough for a tie at 32nd. He finished with a 219 at six-strokes over.
Jake Headrick (Maryville, Tenn.) also made a move down the leaderboard into a tie for 75th. The back nine was less than the junior could have hoped for as a pair of bogeys and double bogeys put him at six-over heading into the front portion of the course. At that point, he found his rhythm in the form of two birdies and a bogey to go +5 in the final round with a 227 total.
As the only eagle to move up the leaderboard on Wednesday, Alex Hutson (Newport, Tenn.) was even for a majority of his first nine holes of the day, save for a bogey on the 11th. Another one-over showing in the front nine with a birdie on the final hole propelled him up to a tie for 75th at a +2 score on 73 in the round, tying him with Headrick at +14 for the event.
Anthony Marcinelli (Knoxville, Tenn.) saw his best outing for the regional in the back nine with a +1 showing. The front nine brought some troubles with four bogeys, pushing him to a five-over round of 76. His +17 total of 230 placed him in a tie for 87th.
Florida Southern's John VanDerLaan, the top player in the nation, was the top medalist at -10 with a 203 total in the event. Three strokes behind him was Lincoln Memorial's Sam Broadhurst at seven-under while West Florida's Chandler Blanchet took third at six-under.
No. 1 West Florida was the top team with a 12-under showing followed by No. 2 Florida Southern, just three strokes back. No. 5 Barry took third at one-over.
No. 6 Lynn, No. 18 LMU, No. 31 Delta State and No. 16 Saint Leo rounded out the top seven teams who will be advancing.
While the season is done for the Eagles, Forster now prepares for the 2018 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships Final at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at the Shoals, Fighting Joe Course in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. That event will take place from May 21-25.
|
Carson-Newman |
296 |
289 |
298 |
883 |
+31 |
T-9th |
|
67 |
70 |
77 |
214 |
+1 |
T-15th |
|
|
74 |
72 |
73 |
219 |
+6 |
T-32nd |
|
|
78 |
73 |
76 |
227 |
+14 |
T-75th |
|
|
80 |
74 |
73 |
227 |
+14 |
T-75th |
|
|
77 |
77 |
76 |
230 |
+17 |
T-87th |
