ANDERSON, S.C. – Following a year that included winning the Matt Dyas Invitational last October and four other top-10 finishes along the way, the nationally 32nd-ranked Anderson men's golf team is set to compete at the 2021 South Atlantic Conference Championship.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament begins Monday morning and concludes Tuesday afternoon at the Woodlake Country Club in Tazewell, Tenn., over a par-72, 6,746 yard course. Tee times will begin at 8:30 a.m. both days with 36-holes being played on Monday with a shotgun start, followed by 18-holes on Tuesday.
With the coronavirus canceling last year's SAC Championship, Coker AU hosted the 2019 championship at the Camden Country Club layout, with the Trojans claiming 10th place after finishing sixth in 2018 on their home course. AU posted its highest finish since joining the SAC with a fourth-place showing in 2012. The event has produced six different champions over the past 10 seasons.
The league boasts seven teams in the top-50 in the latest Golfstat NCAA Division II National Rankings, with second-ranked Lincoln Memorial leading the way. The Railsplitters have won the SAC title three times over the past 10 years - most recently in 2016. League-newcomer Limestone is ranked 17th nationally, while No. 21 Carson-Newman entered the 2019 tourney as the two-time defending SAC Champion and will be seeking its fifth overall conference title – and fourth in seven years - this week.
Wingate, ranked 22nd, won the title in 2012, with No. 31 Newberry having captured three league championships - most recently in 2011.
The Trojans are ranked 32nd in the nation, while defending champion Queens is ranked 46th.
Jake Miller paced the Trojans at the 2019 Championship by finishing in a three-way tie for 12th, with Brady Cox sharing 40th place. Hunter Parks finished in a tie for 45th while Drake McAlister and Cole Jefferys finished 50th and 51st, respectively.
AU's Calahan Keever, who was named Second-Team All-SAC and SAC Freshman of the Year on Friday, is ranked 51st nationally by Golfstat. The Greenville native paced the Trojans with a 72.00 unadjusted stroke average (72.46 adjusted) this year and posted a season-low 68 in the second round of the Matt Dyas Invitational last October. He posted three top-15 finishes during the year and never finished lower than 21st.
Sophomore Reece Coleman also captured second-team all-conference honors after earning first-team all-conference accolades following the 2019-20 campaign. The Port Elizabeth, South Africa, native is currently ranked 76th in the nation by Golfstat. He posted a 72.18 unadjusted stroke average (72.63 adjusted) through six tournaments and has three top-10 finishes to his credit this year, while finishing lower than 32nd just once. Coleman equaled the school record with his first-round 64 at the Spring Kick-off Intercollegiate in February.
Senior Jake Miller owns a 73.41 unadjusted stroke average through six tourneys this year and notched a season-best 68 three weeks ago in the second round of Lincoln Memorial's Tennessee River Rumble. He has four-top-20 finishes this season and claimed a season-best 15th place finish at the River Rumble.
Sophomore Anthony Sutton has a 73.71 stroke average through 14 rounds and fired a season-low 68 in the opening round of the Tennessee River Rumble. The Lancaster native also carded a 69 in the second round of the Matt Dyas Invitational en route to winning the tournament. He followed up with a 24th-place finish two weeks later at the Full Moon BBQ Invitational in Alabama.
Freshman Daniel Coker has a 75.53 stroke average, while carding a season-low 72 in the first round of the Full Moon BBQ Invitational. He owns a pair of top-25 finishes on the year.
Lenoir-Rhyne (61st), Tusculum (64th), Coker (72nd) and Catawba (93rd) are also ranked among nation's top 100.
Live scoring will be available for all three rounds through birdiefire.com.
