Columbia Men's Golf Competes at USC-Beaufort

OKATIE, S.C. - The Columbia College men's golf team competed at NCAA Div. II USC Beaufort's home tournament, the Oldfield Classic Monday and Tuesday afternoon at the Oldfield Golf Club in southeastern SC.

Columbia finished 13th among a field of five D-2 schools and one Div. I school, Drexel University (Pa.). USC-Beaufort took home the title winning by 10 over Drexel while NAIA schools St. Thomas (FL) and Truett-MCconnell (Ga.) finisihed 3rd and 4th with D-2 Mount Olive (NC) rounding out the top five. CC was 7th among NAIA schools after scores of 342, 328 and 349 in the three-round meet.

Leading the men was junior Blake Vaughn as he shot back-to-back rounds in the 70s (79-76) on Monday before an 85 on Tuesday had him finish at 24-over 240 on the week and a tie for 62nd place. He had two birdies in round one and three more birdies in round two.

Freshman Ryan Lord then finished 2nd on the Koalas as he improved his score in each round shooting a 91 in round one, an 84 in round two and an 80 in round three for a 39-over 255. He had an eagle (2 under par) and a birdie in round three as well as he finished 74th overall.

Senior Jacob Fink was then third on the Koalas as he shot a very impressive 78 in round two, but that was sandwiched around two scores in the 90s as he finished at 45-over 261 and in 78th place. Fink recorded five birdies on the week. Finally, fellow senior Brandon Griffin came in 79th place at 47 over 263 as he shot rounds of 81, 90, and 92.

The Golf team will next hit the links on Tuesday, April 2 when they compete in the 36-hole Northeast TN Shootout in Johnson City, TN.