GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Paced by junior Calahan Keever's school-record tying three-round 206, the Anderson University men's golf team won North Georgia's Mizuno Intercollegiate on the strength of a school-record 54-hole 846, Tuesday afternoon on a 7,166 yard, par-72 Chattahoochee Club layout.
"I can't express how proud I am of our men's team," said Anderson Director of Golf Danny Neal. "We went in seeded 16th in the field and won the tournament! Not to mention the strength of the field with several top 10 and 25-ranked teams. The scores were a little higher today but very consistent with Calahan shooting a final round 70 to tie for low medalist, Alejandro finishing his first collegiate event with a 71, Reece finishing with a strong 72 and Parker with a 73. Hopefully, we can build on this momentum and play well again next week as we head to Columbus State to play in their tournament."
Twelve of Golfstat's latest top-25 teams - including five of the top-10 squads in the nation competed in the two-day, 54-hole event.
The Trojans led wire-to-wire and finished two strokes ahead of 12th-ranked West Florida, while seventh-ranked and host North Georgia, which won last week's Lander Bearcat Fall Invitational, finished eight strokes further back in third place. No. 25 Clayton State held the fourth slot, with Lee University, which is third in Golfstat's rankings and tops in the nation in the Golfweek Coaches Poll, finished in fifth place.
Lander moved up one spot and finished sixth, while eighth-ranked Georgia Southwestern, which finished as runners-up at last week's Lander Bearcat Fall Invitational, claimed seventh place. Eleventh-ranked Limestone and fifth-ranked Lincoln Memorial finished eighth and ninth, respectively, with Erskine dropping two spots into 10th place.
Barton and USC Aiken shared 11th place, with Columbus State, Newberry, North Georgia "B", Young Harris, Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne and Georgia College rounding out the 20-team field.
Keever (69-67-70=206), who trailed Coleman by just one stroke entering Tuesday's final round, birdied two of his first four holes and offset a bogey on 14 with another birdie on the 16th hole en route to his first career first-place finish, then fell to West Florida's Elias Haavisto (70-69-67=206) on the second playoff hole.
Coleman (67-68-72=207) birdied his first two holes on Tuesday to solidify his hold on the top spot, but stumbled with three bogeys over the next seven holes, before recovering to card two more birdies on the back nine and finish alone in third place. Lee's Beck Burnette (69-69-70=208) remained in fourth place, just one stroke behind Coleman.
Anderson freshman Alejandro de Castro vaulted up 21 spots to claim a share of 26th place in his first collegiate tournament, while sophomore Simon Wright finished in a seven-way tie for 50th place. Senior Parker MacDonald wrapped up the three-round tournament in a share of 57th place.
The Trojans will get back on the links Monday and Tuesday at the AFLAC Cougar Invitational, which will be hosted by Columbus State at the Country Club of Columbus.
Notables
• AU's 54-hole 846 set a school record for a three-round tournament.
• The Trojans' first and second-round 560 also set a program record.
• AU's second and third-round 567 matched the fourth-best 36-hole score in school history.
• The Trojans' third-round 286 matched the 15th-best 18-hole score in program history.
• Keever's three-round 206 matches the school record set by Reece Coleman at the 2019 Donald Ross Intercollegiate.
• Coleman's 54-hole 207 marks the third-lowest three-round score in program history.
• Keever's second and third-round 137 sixth-best two-round score in school history.
• AU's first-round 279 matched the program's third-best 18-hole score and was just two strokes off the school record.
• The Trojans' second-round 281 marked the sixth-lowest 18-hole score in school history.
• Coleman's first and second-round 135 matched the second-lowest 36-hole score in program history and was just one stroke off his own school-record 134, which he set during the 2019 Donald Ross Intercollegiate.
• Keever's first and second-round 136 matched the fourth lowest two-round score on school history.
• Coleman's first-round 67 and Keever's second-round 67 matched the seventh-best round in program history.
• Coleman's second-round 68 matched the 19th-lowest round in school history.
• Keever carded an eagle on the par-5, 533-yard 16th hole during the second round.
• AU carded 19 birdies in the opening round and followed up with 16 birdies in the second round.
1 Anderson 279 281 286 846
T1 Calahan Keever 69 67 70 206
3 Reece Coleman 67 68 72 207
T26 Alejandro de Castro 73 75 71 219
T50 Simon Wright 70 76 77 223
T57 Parker MacDonald 80 71 73 224
Team Scores
1 Anderson 279 281 286 846 -18
2 West Florida 282 280 286 848 -16
3 North Georgia 283 290 283 856 -8
4 Clayton State 286 290 288 864 E
5 Lee 296 284 288 868 +4
6 Lander 291 290 290 871 +7
7 Georgia Southwestern 291 287 294 872 +8
8 Limestone 293 293 293 879 +15
9 Lincoln Memorial 298 296 288 882 +18
10 Erskine College 289 296 299 884 +20
T11 Barton College 291 294 300 885 +21
T11 USC Aiken 300 293 292 885 +21
13 Columbus State 298 298 293 889 +25
T14 Newberry 289 297 305 891 +27
T14 North Georgia (B) 290 300 301 891 +27
16 Young Harris 303 288 307 898 +34
17 Wingate 296 301 305 902 +38
18 Lenoir-Rhyne 316 290 297 903 +39
19 West Georgia 303 301 301 905 +41
20 Georgia College 309 299 308 916 +52
