Lord Leads Men's Golf at Conference Tournament

ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. - The Columbia College men's golf team finished 12th at the AAC Direct Qualifier this week at the Barnsley Gardens Resort in Northwest Georgia. Truett-McConnell went on to win the tournament with a three-round score of 38 over 902 as they shot two sub 300 rounds.

Columbia shot a 346 in round one Monday morning, a 349 in round two Monday afternoon and then improved by 7 shots in round three on Tuesday to shoot a 54-over 342 and finish 11th and ahead of Bryan and Union. TMU's Nate Thornton won the tournament with a 3 over 219 and was the only golfer to shoot 2 rounds under par.

Freshman Ryan Lord led the way for the Koalas placing 41st overall out of 63 with rounds of 85, 86, and an 8-over 80, which was the lowest round of the week for any Koala. He finished with a 35-over 251 score and had two birdies on the back nine in his final round Tuesday. Coming in right behind Lord was junior Blake Vaughn placing 47th with a score of 41 over 257 after shooting rounds of 88, 87, and 82 as he also improved in round three and had two birdies recorded on the front nine in the final round.

Senior Jacob Fink then finished in 49th place with a score of 258 after rounds of 86, 87, and 85. Even as Fink registered three birdies on the back nine in the final round, his round came undone due to two triple bogeys and a double while he manaage dsut one par. Fellow senior Brandon Griffin then came in 55th with a 271 and recorded rounds of 87, 89 and 95. Griffin had three total birdies in the tournament.