CHUCKEY, Tenn. – Paced by sophomore Calahan Keever's even-par 72, the Anderson University men's golf team is in ninth place following opening-round action, Sunday at the 2022 South Atlantic Conference Championship.
Tusculum is hosting the three-day, 54-hole tournament at the Graysburg Hills Golf Club on a par-72, 6,834 yard course.
"Well, our opening round did not go as well as planned," said Anderson Director of Golf Danny Neal. "We got off to a slow start and just were not able to take advantage of the front nine easier side. A few wayward shots combined with a few missed putts have us needing to play sharper tomorrow to hopefully move ahead of a team or two."
No. 25 Queens leads fifth-ranked Lincoln Memorial by five shots following Sunday's first round, with 32nd-ranked Newberry and No. 47 Tusculum tied for third place – one stroke further back. Ninth-ranked Limestone occupies the fifth slot, while Coker is just behind in sixth place. Fourth-ranked Carson-Newman is seventh, with Lenoir-Rhyne in eighth place.
Anderson, Catawba, Wingate, UVA Wise and Mars Hill round out the 13-team field.
LMU's Luke Harries fired a 7-under-par 65 and leads the chase for individual medalist honors by one shot over Tusculum's Dominic Barron Holden, with the Queens duo of Ollie Smith and Drake Wilcox tied for third – just two shots off the pace. Coker's Fred Tindale and Newberry's Alex Pillar tied for fifth after carding 4-under 68s on the day.
Keever is in a 10-way tie for 15th place, while junior Reece Coleman is tied for 25th after carding a 1-over 73. Sophomore Daniel Coker and freshman Simon Wright share 45th place after each carded 4-over 76s on Sunday. Junior Parker MacDonald rounded out the Trojan contingent in a tie for 59th place.
Monday's second round is slated to get underway at 8:30 a.m., with the Trojans slated to start teeing off at 10:10 a.m.
9 Anderson 297 +9
T 15 Calahan Keever 72 E
T 25 Reece Coleman 73 +1
T 45 Simon Wright 76 +4
T 45 Daniel Coker 76 +4
T 59 Parker MacDonald 79 +7
Pos. School Total To Par
1 Queens 277 -11
2 Lincoln Memorial 282 -6
3 Tusculum 283 -5
Newberry 283 -5
5 Limestone 286 -2
6 Coker 287 -1
7 Carson-Newman 288 E
8 Lenoir-Rhyne 291 +3
9 Anderson 297 +9
10 Catawba 298 +10
11 Wingate 300 +12
12 UVA Wise 309 +21
13 Mars Hill 328 +40
NOTABLES
• Queens' opening round 277 marks the third-lowest round in SAC Championship history.
• LMU's opening round 282 equaled the sixth best round in tournament history.
• Tusculum and Newberry's first-round 283s equaled the 14th best round in tournament history.
• LMU's Luke Harries' first-round 65 matched the fourth-lowest round In SAC Championship history.
• Tusculum's Dominic Barron Holden's opening-round 66 matched the fifth-lowest round in tourney history.
• LMU notched a tournament record, three-round 847 a year ago, while Limestone's 860, Queens' 862 and Carson-Newman's 863 a year ago all topped Queens' previous championship record 864, which was set just in 2019.
• AU posted its highest finish since joining the SAC with a fourth-place showing in 2012.
• Former standout Jake Miller owns the school record for a SAC Tournament appearance with a 54-hole 212, while finishing as runner-up in 2018 (Adam Sheriff posted an even-par 213 in the 2008 Conference Carolinas championship).
• The SAC Championship has produced six different champions over the past 10 seasons, with the fifth-ranked Railsplitters hoping to become the first repeat title-winner since Carson-Newman won back-to-back conference crowns in 2017 and 2018.
• Lincoln Memorial and Carson-Newman have each claimed four SAC titles, with Newberry taking home the hardware on three occasions. The Wolves are seeking their first title since 2011.
• Presbyterian claimed the tourney championship a record six times before moving to NCAA D-I status, while Elon won the event five times (1990-1994).
• The Trojans finished among the top seven teams in all but two of their tournaments during the regular season.
