ETOWAH, N.C. --- Tusculum College senior Brad Hawkins fired a two-under par 70 to finish with a tournament total 218 and finished runner-up at the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Men's Golf Championship. The three-day, 54-hole tournament was held at the Etowah Valley Golf Club and hosted by Brevard College.
Tusculum finished 10th as the Pioneers posted a team score of 909, including a second straight tally of 299 in Tuesday's final round.
Lincoln Memorial University shot a final day 286 to finish with 879 to win its third SAC Championship in school history. LMU edged runner-up Carson-Newman University by three shots as the Eagles shot 882. Coker College finished third with 890, followed by Queens University of Charlotte (891), Wingate University (893), Newberry College (894), Lenoir-Rhyne University (898), Mars Hill University (899), Brevard (903), Tusculum (909), Anderson University (925) and Catawba College (936).
Starting on the back nine, Hawkins rebounded from a double bogey 5 on his opening hole and recorded a birdie and an eagle on the two par 5s to shoot one-under 35 at the turn. The 2016 SAC Player of the Year recorded birdies on the holes No. 3 and No. 6 to get to minus-three on the day and got to within a stroke of the leaders. But a bogey on his next to last hole dropped him to two-under par as he finished with a three-day total of 218 (+2) and finished in a three-way tie for second place with Nick Kennedy (Carson-Newman) and Jon Noble (Queens).
Coker's Will Bundy captured SAC Tournament MVP honors as he was the medalist with 217 (+1), including Tuesday's final day 73.
Also earning a spot on the SAC All-Tournament first team were Carson-Newman's Jake Headrick and Mars Hill's Charles Hartzog as the duo tied for fifth place with 219.
Tusculum juniors Chris Hutson and Preston Tucker both finished with 230 and tied for 36th place. Hutson carded a two-over par 74 in the final round, while Tucker logged a 77. Junior Taylor Smith tied for 56th with 241, including a final day 79.
Tusculum senior Nick Forsberg finished with 231 and tied for 43rd place. Forsberg posted a final round 78 in what may have been his final collegiate tournament. His 74.40 career scoring average is the third-lowest in program history.
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2016 SAC Men's Golf Championship
Team Scores
Pl Team 1st 2nd 3rd TOT
1 Lincoln Memorial 300 293 286 879
2 Carson-Newman 295 296 291 882
3 Coker 300 296 294 890
4 Queens 303 301 287 891
5 Wingate 303 299 291 893
6 Newberry 304 298 292 894
7 Lenoir-Rhyne 295 296 307 898
8 Mars Hill 298 300 301 899
9 Brevard 304 301 298 903
10 TUSCULUM 311 299 299 909
11 Anderson 310 310 305 925
12 Catawba 317 303 316 936
Tusculum Individual Scores
Pl Player 1st 2nd 3rd TOT
T2 Brad Hawkins 77 71 70 218
T36 Chris Hutson 78 78 74 230
T36 Preston Tucker 79 74 77 230
T43 Nick Forsberg 77 76 78 231
T56 Taylor Smith 84 78 79 241
