Vaughn Places 4th to Help Golf Finish 3rd at Milligan with Terrific Final Round
JOHNSON CITY, TN - The Columbia College men's golf team fired a terrific final round on Tuesday afternoon shooting their first sub-300 round of the season to climb up the standings and finish in third place out of 10 teams at the Northeast Tennessee Spring Shootout.
Senior Blake Vaughn led the Koala men with his fourth place +4 over tournament to earn a medal. Vaughn shot a 76 in round one Tuesday morning before coming back to shoot a terrific even par 72 in the second round to finish with a score of 148.
Freshman Thomas Campbell then shot the best round of the tournament for Columbia firing a 1 under 71 in the second round to improve by 10 shots over his 10 over 81 first round score. Campbell moved up to a ninth place finish at 8 over to tie him with fellow freshman Hayden Ardis who also shot an 8-over 152 after shooting rounds of 79 and 73. He was the third Koala to improve his score in round two.
Freshman Zachary Mock then came in a tie for 26th at 13-over 157 with rounds of 76 and 81. Sophomore Ryan Lord then wrapped up the day for CC coming in 39th place out of 56 at 18-over 162 with rounds of 83 and 79. Lord was the 4th Koala to improve on his first round score and the 4th Koala to shoot a sub-80 second round.
The Koalas finished third overall rallying from a 7th place position after the first round by shooting a quality +7 over 295 as a team in round two after shooting a 312 in round one. The Koalas finished just two strokes back of co-champs Milligan and Spartanburg Methodist. Columbia also ousted four conference foes in Bluefield, Montreat, Johnson and Union College during the tournament. The Koalas also finished ahead of two NCAA Div. II foes, King Univ. (TN) and Mars Hill (NC) who were 7th and 8th.
Also competing as an individual was junior women's golfer Abigayle Johnson who placed 29th out of 34 with rounds of 102 and 96 as she also improved her score in round two.
The Koalas will next be in action on April 21 and 22 for the AAC Direct Qualifer from Adairsville, GA.