CHUCKEY, Tenn. --- Tusculum University will host the 2022 South Atlantic Conference Men's Golf Championship this week at Graysburg Hills Golf Course. Since joining the league in 1998, this will mark the first time the Pioneers have hosted the league championship on its home course.
The three-day, 54-hole championship will be contested on the par-72, 6,860-yard layout beginning with Sunday's opening round slated to start at 8:30 a.m. with play beginning on the first hole of the Knobs – Fodder Stack courses. Admission to the tournament is free and Live Scoring will be available at: https://birdiefire.com/tournament/93562/
All 13 conference programs will be competing with the winning team earning the league's automatic berth to next month's NCAA Division II Tournament. This year's talented field includes three teams listed in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division II Coaches Polls including No. 2 Carson-Newman, No. 3 Lincoln Memorial and No. 14 Queens University of Charlotte.
Also joining the host Pioneers are Anderson, Catawba, Coker, Lenoir-Rhyne, Mars Hill, Newberry, Queens, UVA Wise and Wingate.
LMU is the defending SAC Champion as the Railsplitters carded a tournament-record 847 score on its home course of Woodlake Golf Club last April.
The host Pioneers will be in quest of its second SAC Championship with the first coming in 2015.
TU has recorded a pair of tournament victories this spring, winning the Matt Dyas Invitational and last month's Tusculum Invitational, held at Graysburg Hills. The Pioneers also posted a runner-up finish at the King invitational and finished third at the Richard Rendleman Invitational.
Leading the charge for the Black & Orange is sophomore Dominic Barron Holden (Kendal, England). Holden has appeared in eight events this season where he has a 73.09 stroke average. He has finished in the top-20 on five occasions including four times in the top-10 and three top-5 appearances. He captured medalist honors at the Dyas Invitational in March where he shot 70-70-72=212 (-1). He also finished runner-up at the Rendleman Invitational which including a final round 66. He recently finished fourth at the Tusculum Invitational with 72-70=142.
The 2021 All-SAC honorable mention choice has a career scoring average of 73.32 which is currently the second-lowest in program history. He finished 35th at last year's SAC Championship.
Sophomore Liam van Deventer (Boksburg, South Africa) is second on the squad with his 73.90 stroke average where he has finished in the top-20 four times including a runner-up performance at the Tusculum Invitational with 68-71=139. He is coming off a 16th-place finish at the Tennessee River Rumble where he shot 74-72-71=217. Van Deventer was the tournament medalist at the 2021 Tusculum Invitational at Graysburg Hills. He finished 35th at last year's SAC Championship.
Senior Nicholas Marchese (Bolton, Ontario, Canada) has also played in all eight events this year while accounting for a 74.52 average. He has logged three top-20 finishes including twice in the top-five. He finished third at the Dyas Invitational and fourth at the King Invitational. He tied for 42nd place at the 2021 SAC Championship.
Freshman Liam Hermansson (Stockholm, Sweden) has a 75.00 scoring average in his eight tournaments this season. He tied for fifth place at the King Invitational and also finished ninth at the Rendleman Invitational where he carded an opening round 68 for his lowest score of the year.
Junior Thomas Kollberg has seen all of his action in the spring season where he has a 75.75 stroke average. His best showing of the year came at last month's TU Invitational where he shot and even par 144 including a final round 68.
Outside of the 2015 SAC Championship for Tusculum, the Pioneers have also recorded three runner-up finishes at the league tournament including 2005, 2007 and 2011.
