Trojans Place Third at Conference Championship

Posted: Apr 24, 2024

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – Hosted at the Orangeburg Country Club, the South Atlantic Conference Championship concluded on Tuesday afternoon with Anderson's men's golf team shooting a team tournament-best round of 288 to clinch a third-place finish.

"Truly was a special week this week," said Head Men's Golf Coach Austin Castles. "Coming into the week we were projected to finished 8th, and we far exceeded that expectation. I just can't tell you how proud I am of this group of guys. It's been a tough year for all, a year of learning and growing, and I'm so thankful these guys hung in there and got through the bad and ugly to finally see something good."

The Black and Gold sat fourth in the field after Round 1 on Sunday with a team score of 290. Monday saw the squad drop two strokes, finishing the day at 292, but climbing to third on the leaderboard. Tuesday's competition nearly came down to the wire as numerous teams fought for tournament hardware, but ultimately Anderson was able to hang on and secure a Top-3 finish.

"We found something a few weeks ago before the Tennessee River Rumble and went and had our best performance of the year there and then turned around and came to the conference championship and competed. Truly competed to win," said Castles. "We fell a little short this year of winning, but these guys have a lot to be proud of."

All-tournament team honoree and leader for the Trojans was junior Simon Wright (Lancaster, S.C.) who opened the week shooting a Trojan-best 69(-1), followed by rounds of 73(+3) and 72(+2). Wright finished the tournament at four-over, sharing a sixth-place spot on the leaderboard with 2023-24 SAC Player of the Year, George Durkan from Lincoln Memorial.

Fifth-year Jamie Markwick (Bishop's Waltham, Eng.) rounded out the tournament at 73-72-72-217 for a seven-over, 11th-place finish, while senior Daniel Coker (Hartsville, S.C.) finished one stroke behind for an eight-over, 14th-place score of 73-73-72-218.

"Simon was rock-solid all week and earned All-Tournament Honors. Jamie was great and gave a really solid performance. And Daniel was a massive contributor in all three rounds this week in his last collegiate rounds as a Trojan. We are going to miss Daniel so much on the golf course. He's the glue that holds the guys together."

Trojan freshmen Luke Sullivan (Columbia, S.C.) and Sam McMillan (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) finished 32nd and 33rd in the tournament, shooting for 225 and 226 respectively.

"Luke was very gritty, fought hard and was huge for us, and Sam stepped up in a big way in Round 3 when we needed him most. Also can't thank Director of Golf Denton Moore enough for his coaching this week. He was a huge part of our success."

The tournament marks the end of the 2023-2024 campaign, and the Trojans look to bounce back fresh in the fall.

"Can't put into words how excited I am to get rolling next year with these guys," said Castles. "We'll be back and ready to give it our best each and every week."

Trojan Scores

Wright 69-73-72-214(+4)

Markwick 73-72-72-217(+7)

Coker 73-73-72(+8)

Sullivan 75-74-76-225(+15)

McMillan 77-77-72-226(+16)

SAC Scores

LMU 295-280-280-855(+15)

Coker 288-284-293-865(+25)

Anderson 290-292-288-870(+30)

Carson-Newman 290-292-289-871(+31)

Wingate 289-302-287-878(+38)