No. 21/22 Eagles trek to Tazewell for SAC Championship
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Three weeks after it wrapped up its regular-season schedule, No. 21/22 Carson-Newman heads to the Woodlake Golf Club on Monday and Tuesday for the South Atlantic Conference Championship.
VIDEO: Randy Wylie Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Three weeks after it wrapped up its regular-season schedule, No. 21/22 Carson-Newman heads to the Woodlake Golf Club on Monday and Tuesday for the South Atlantic Conference Championship.
The Eagles went through the season with three top-five finishes, including back-to-back fourth-place showings to close out the spring. The regular-season finale came with them matching their lowest round of the season, firing a 7-under 281 at the Tennessee River Rumble at the end of March. That round helped the team to jump seven spots between the first and second days of competition after sitting at 11th through 36 holes.
"We've just kind of played OK – a little bit below our best," Carson-Newman coach Randy Wylie said. "We're hoping that we're going to have one of those years where we peak at postseason tournament time. We've played decently, but I don't think we've hit our stride like I'd like to have seen, you know, maybe a little bit of COVID issue with not playing as many tournaments as we usually would, but I feel good about this week; that we can kind of get our best foot forward here at the conference championship."
The same starting-five for Carson-Newman will be on the links for the fourth-straight event, this time led by All-SAC Second Team pick Alex Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.). It will be the fourth start at the top position for the senior this season and the first since the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate back in mid-March. He leads the team with a 71.9 scoring clip through 12 rounds this year with an appearance in every event. Three of his outings landed top-20 finishes with two in the top 10. His best performance this season came at the season-opening Hurricane Invitational where an even 216 gave him a share of eighth.
�� @ahodge21
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) April 16, 2021
�� @Jake_Mynatt1
�� @collinswill287
For the seventh time in @cnmensgolf history, three Eagles land All-@SAC_Athletics honors.
��: https://t.co/DG3ZVzgLRs pic.twitter.com/hNkrQvldOM
Behind him in the lineup is Jake Mynatt (Knoxville, Tenn.), making his second appearance at the SAC Championship. His debut trip came during his freshman season where he finished in 21st with a 13-over 223. This season, the junior has started in each event, grasping a 72.8 scoring clip in 13 rounds. The All-SAC Honorable mention has been in the top 20 twice on the year, both of those coming in the top three. The last of those outings was a second-place finish at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate where he was 11-under with a 205, matching the second-lowest 54-hole score of an Eagle at the event in program history.
The only remaining member of the 2018 championship team is Jackson Tyler (Wilmington, N.C.), slotted at the No. 3 position this week. This will be the third SAC Championship appearance the senior has made in his career, finishing 13th in the field as a freshman before landing at 29th in 2019. This season, Tyler started in all four regular-season events, averaging a 74.3 round. He is still in search of a top-20 finish this year, his best outing being a tie for 31st at the Hurricane Invitational to open the season.
Will Collins (Knoxville, Tenn.) starts as the fourth-seed for C-N this week. Through 12 rounds of action this season, the junior is tied with his fellow All-SAC Honorable Mention pick Mynatt for the second-lowest scoring clip on the year with a 72.8. He has tallied a pair of top-20 finishes this season. His best showing was a tie for 11th at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate, firing a 1-under 215, the lowest 54-hole mark of his career. His 69 in the second round of that event also matched his career-low single-round score. This week also marks his second appearance at the league tournament, his first since 2019 when he finished in 40th on a 25-over 235.
Rounding out the lineup is freshman Jonathan Nielsen (Hørsholm, Denmark), making his fourth-straight start this season. He is at a 74.9 average through 10 rounds with one top-20 finish. His lowest round of the year came during his last trip out, scoring a 70 in the final round of the Tennessee River Rumble.
"Golf is always a one shot at a time deal, you know, you just have to kind of play for your teammates and you got to kinda focus on each individual shot and you have a game plan," Wylie said. "Each individual player has their own game plan. You have to try to stay focus on that and not get overly distracted by how other teams are doing or how the teammates are doing; just take care of their own personal business. At the end of the day, that's how you end up with the best team score and it gives you a chance to win a championship."
Carson-Newman has won the league title four times in program history with the last one coming in back-to-back fashion in 2018. The team has finished in the top five in all but one season since 2004 with 10 top-three outings. Since that season, two top medalists in the field have been clad in Orange and Blue. Tom Forster was the most recent winner in 2018 with Tanner Davis winning in 2004.
Wylie's group is one of three nationally-ranked teams in the field. Lincoln Memorial heads in as the fifth and second-ranked teams in the Bushnell Golf Week Coaches and Golfstat polls, respectively, while Wingate is No. 25 and 22. C-N still sits outside of the NCAA Southeast regional rankings. In that list, LMU is No. 1 with Limestone and Wingate being the only other SAC teams at No. 8 and No. 11.
The two-day tournament kicks off Monday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start for 36 holes of action before one final round on Tuesday. Live scoring will be available for all three rounds of action via BirdieFire.
