Sept. 8, 2005

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TANAGURA, Japan – The University of South Carolina men’s golf team finished in eighth place in the 23rd annual TOPY Cup, which concluded on Thursday at Tanagura Country Club (Par 72/7,127 yards) in Tanagura, Japan. Senior Eirik Johansen led the Gamecocks with a top-five showing individually and the team finished with a score of 899.

South Carolina was one of four collegiate men’s teams from the United States that competed with seven Japanese men’s teams in the three-day tournament. Tohoku Fukushi captured the team tournament title with a four-over par score of 868.

Johansen carded a 74 on Thursday and completed the tournament with a score of 217 (+1), good for a fourth-place tie. The performance marks the seventh top-five finish in his USC career and his best showing since tying for second at the 2005 Gator Invitational (Feb. 4-6). The Stavanger, Norway, native now boasts 14 top-10 tournament finishes while at Carolina.

Redshirt freshman Patrick Cunning (Aiken, S.C.), junior Robert Svensson (Mjolby, Sweden) and sophomore Warren Thomas (Columbia, S.C.) all tied for 32nd with a final score of 228 (+12). Sophomore Mark Anderson (Beaufort, S.C.) rounded out the Gamecock lineup tied for 52nd with a score of 238 (+22).

Georgia State turned in the best finish of the U.S. collegiate teams by finishing in second place (871, +7). Michigan State placed third (834, +20) and Pepperdine finished sixth (888, +24).

USC is idle until it tees off at The Ridges Intercollegiate in Johnson City, Tenn., on Oct. 15.

Final TOPY Cup Results
South Carolina GolfersT4  Eirik Johansen, 70-73-74=143T32 Patrick Cunning, 73-79-74=228T32 Warren Thomas, 80-73-75=228T32 Robert Svensson, 71-83-74=228T52 Mark Anderson, 80-81-77=238
Team Leaderboard1   Tohoku Fukushi, 288-294-286=8682   Georgia State, 281-301-289=8713   Michigan State, 303-295-286=8344   Senshu, 296-303-287=8865   Nihon, 289-306-292=8876   Pepperdine, 301-295-292=8887   Waseda, 294-312-290=8968    South Carolina, 294-306-299=89910  Kyushu Tokai, 300-322-299=9219   Nagoya Commerece, 302-315-306=92311  Daiichi, 308-324-316=948