HICKORY, N.C. --- The Tusculum University men's golf team finished fifth at the 2023 South Atlantic Conference Championship. The three-day, 54-hole tournament was held at the par-72, 6,605-yard Lake Hickory Country Club.
The Pioneers carded a 54-hole total 877 and posted its best league championship finish in six years when TU placed fifth at the weather-abbreviated 2017 tournament in Salisbury, North Carolina.
Tusculum placed two players on the SAC All-Tournament as rookie Nicholas Taggart finished sixth and senior Riley Brown placed ninth.
Anderson, the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II, led wire-to-wire to claim its first SAC Championship and record its sixth tournament crown this season. The Trojans lapped the field by shooting a three-round total 845 (-19) and win by 23 strokes over runner-up and host Lenoir-Rhyne (286-288-294=868).
Anderson freshman Alejandro Castro also went the distance to claim the SAC individual medal with his nine-under par total of 67-68-72=207. He finished three shots clear of AU teammates Reece Coleman (70-68-72=210) and Calahan Keever (69-71-70=210) who tied for second a six-under par.
Newberry finished third with 874 as the Wolves made final round charge up the leaderboard to with a Tuesday low 281 (-7). Lincoln Memorial placed fourth with 876 and Tusculum rounded out the top-five at 877 including a final day 295.
Limestone was sixth with 878, followed by Carson-Newman (880), Coker (894), Wingate (901), Catawba (934), Mars Hill (977) and UVA Wise (981).
Taggart posted a final round 71 (-1) as he recorded three birdies, two bogeys and 13 pars for his fifth sub-par round of the season which are the most ever by a Tusculum freshman. He wrapped up the championship with a two-under par total 214, which is his second-best 54-hole total this season and tied for ninth in school history.
His 214 is the second-best 54-hole total by a Pioneer at the SAC Championship with Dominic Barron Holden's 209 at last year's conference tournament being better. Taggart records his sixth top-20 finish including his fifth top-10 showing. He also established a new TU single-season record by playing in his 27th competitive round on Tuesday which breaks the previous mark of 26 set by Brent Dyson in 2001-02 & 2002-03, and Chase Carroll in 2008-09.
Brown got his final round off to a rocky start with a triple bogey on the first hole, but he bounced back shooting one-under par the rest of the way to post 74 and finish with a career 54-hole low 216. Brown was competing in his 26th round this year, which is tied for the second-most in school history.
TU senior Thomas Kollberg tied for 21st place with 222 including a 75 in the final round. Juniors Liam van Deventer (76-74-75=225) and Isak Holter (78-81-81=240) finished 29th and 49th, respectively for the Pioneers.
Van Deventer finished the year with a 73.18 stroke average which is the ninth-lowest in program history (min. 500 strokes). Taggart's 73.59 is the 12th lowest overall and the second lowest by a TU rookie.
Kollberg ends his TU career with a 74.46 scoring average which ranks sixth in Pioneer history, while Brown's 74.50 average at Tusculum is listed seventh in the TU record book.
