GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's golf team will be competing at the 2021 South Atlantic Conference Championship, this Monday and Tuesday at Woodlake Golf Club in Tazewell, Tennessee.
This year's 13-team tournament field includes three programs currently ranked in the Bushnell / Golfweek Division II Coaches' Poll. Tournament host Lincoln Memorial is ranked third, while Carson-Newman and Wingate are listed 22nd and 25th, respectively in the most recent national poll.
In the latest NCAA Division II Southeast rankings, LMU holds the top spot, while SAC newcomer Limestone is eighth and Wingate is ranked 11th.
The SAC Championship begins on Monday with a 36-hole shotgun start beginning at 8:30 a.m. The tournament will wrap up on Tuesday with the final 18 holes starting at 8:30 a.m. with split tees on holes No. 1 and No. 10 on the par 72, 6,746-yard layout. The winner will earn the league's automatic bid to next month's NCAA Division II Tournament.
The Pioneers will be vying for its second SAC Championship and eighth league title overall. Tusculum's lone SAC title came in 2015. Woodlake hosts its first SAC Men's Championship, but the venue is not new to the Tusculum program. The Pioneers have played 10 tournaments at Woodlake in its history with seven of those resulting in top-four finishes including 2010 when TU claimed the team title at the LMU Fall Invitational.
Tusculum's starting five will include two juniors and three freshmen. Rookie Dominic Barron Holden will lead the way for the Pioneers after earning All-SAC honorable mention distinction last week. The native of Kendal, England has paved the way for TU with his 73.21 stroke average in his five events this spring. His scoring average is on pace to be the lowest ever by a Tusculum freshman and the eighth-lowest overall.
Holden has recorded three top-20 performances including two times in the top-10 and one top-five showing. He carded a third-place finish with 72-73=145 at the Tusculum Invitational. He also finished ninth at the Buccaneer Spring Classic with 79-76-72=227 and followed with a 54-hole low 215 at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate where he tied for 11th place. Holden carded an opening round 66 (-6) at the Nichols Intercollegiate, which is tied for the third-lowest round in school history.
Freshman Liam van Deventer (Boksburg, Gauteng, South Africa) is second on the team with his 73.93 stroke average. He has accounted for a pair of top-20 performances including the Tusculum Invitational where he led wire-to-wire to capture his first collegiate medal. He opened with a five-under par 67 and closed out the individual title with a one-under 71 to shoot 138 (-6).
Junior Nicholas Marchese (Bolton, Ontario, Canada) is making his SAC Tournament debut this week and his third on the roster with his 75.45 scoring average. The Palm Beach Atlantic University transfer has played in four tournaments this spring where he has two top-20 finishes. He placed sixth at the Buccaneer Spring Classic with 76-75-73=224 and followed with another 224-effort at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate.
Junior Kyle Engelbert is the only player in this week's starting five with experience playing in the SAC Championship. In his rookie campaign, he finished seventh at the 2019 SAC Championship with a 54-hole total 216 including an opening round 69. He earned SAC All-Tournament honors that season and was later named the team's most valuable player.
Engelbert (Fort Worth, Texas) has played in three events this spring and has a 76.44 scoring average. He tied for 15th place at the Buccaneer Spring Classic (76-79-77=232) and posted 70-78-79=227 at the Nichols Intercollegiate where he finished 55th individually. He has a 75.88 career stroke average at Tusculum which is the 15th lowest in program history. He has finished in the top-20 on 10 occasions during his career, including four top-10 showings and finished fourth at the 2019 Walters State Fall Classic.
Engelbert is also the only player in this week's TU line-up to play a competitive round at Woodlake. He posted a 36th place finish at the 2019 State Farm Intercollegiate, shooting 76-77-75=228.
Freshman Isak Holter rounds out the line-up this week for head coach Ross Cash. Holter, a native of Trondheim, Norway, has a 78.67 stroke average and has played in one event this year. He carded a 54-hole total 236 at the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate, which included a final round 74.
The Pioneers have finished fourth or better at the SAC Championship 10 times including four runner-up showings in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011. TU also placed third in back-to-back years in 2002 and 2003.
