April 27, 2018

Men’s Golf at 2018 SEC Championship

• Results
• Stats
• @GamecockMGolf

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — South Carolina shot 290 (+10) in the final round of stroke play on Friday at the 2018 SEC Championship to finish 13th. The Gamecocks sat four shots back of the match play cutline (eighth place) heading into today, but were unable to get the low final round they needed to climb up the leaderboard.

Junior Scott Stevens paced Carolina with a 1-over 71. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native finished T-30th at 5-over. After a tough bogey on his opening hole, the 2017 All-SEC selection shot even par the rest of the way with a pair of birdies. One errant shot led to a double bogey on hole four, his only number worse than par over his final 17 holes.

Senior Keenan Huskey (51st, +10) and freshman Andrew Spiegler each carded 2-over 72s on Friday at Sea Island Club. After a 2-over start through three holes, Huskey shot even par the rest of the way. He was bogey free on his back nine, which was the front side of the course. The Greenville, S.C., native hit the ball well in the final two rounds, but simply couldn’t roll in the birdie putts. Spiegler was 3-over through five holes and shot 1-under coming into the clubhouse with red numbers on the course’s two par-5s.

Senior Ben Dietrich made the turn at even par, but shot 5-over on his back nine. He got a stroke back on the par-5 seventh hole after a tap in birdie but flied the ball long on his approach on the final hole, carding a double to end his round. He finished T-36th at 7-over for the tournament alongside Spiegler. Junior Will Miles couldn’t get it going Friday, shooting 78 (+8) in the final round to finish T-54th (+12).

Scoring conditions were tough again for the final round of stroke play, with wind and difficult pins close to the edges of the greens. LSU, the leaders after the second round, earned the No. 1 seed for the SEC Match Play Quarterfinals with a final round 277 (-3). The Tigers finished stroke play with a three-day total of 834 (-6). Only four teams in the field shot under par third rounds Friday. Florida shot the round of the tournament with an 8-under 272. The Gators Andy Zhang, a sophomore, took home individual medalist honors at 5-under par after defeating Cecil Wegner of Ole Miss in a playoff. Wegner, a freshman, had the individual lead after Thursday’s second round.

QUOTING COACH Bill McDonald

ROUND CHANGER Scott Stevens

NOTABLE

• The Gamecocks finally broke through on the long holes Friday, shooting 7-under on the par-5s.
• Carolina struggled to roll in birdie putts all week, finishing last in the field with 33 red numbers. The Gamecocks were eighth in the field with 171 pars.
• Freshman Andrew Spiegler T-4th in the field with 39 pars in three rounds.

UP NEXT

The Gamecocks will await their fate for NCAA Regionals, which are set for May 14-16 at six different sites across the country. Regional fields will be announced live on the NCAA Men’s Golf Selection show on the Golf Channel at 5:30 p.m. ET on May 2. The top-five teams at every location advance to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship May 25-30 at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla.