Vaughn's Title Helps Koala Golf Finish 2nd at St. Andrews Shootout
WAGRAM, N.C. - The Columbia College men's golf team finished 2nd in the 9-team tournament field falling by one stroke after two days of the St. Andrews Sandhills Shootout at Deercroft Country Club in NC. However, senior Blake Vaughn took him the first place title winning the tournament by five strokes with an even par score of 144.
Vaughn shot rounds of 1 over 73 on Monday and 1-under 71 on Tuesday picking up 4 birdies in round one and five birdies in round two including a 4-under 32 on the front nine on day two.
The Koalas shot a 22 over 310 in the first round to take the first day lead but followed that up with a 29 over 317 in round two to finish at 51 over 627, one shot back of SCAD-Atlanta's 626. CIU finished 3rd at 629 followed by St. Andrews at 632, Bluefield at 654 and Montreat at 684 in the top six. Columbia's B team was also competing and came in 8th place with a 703 score after a 356 round one and an improvement of nine shots to a 347 in round two. The B Koala team was 7th out of 9 in round two, a one spot improvement.
Freshman Hayden Artis held the day one lead with his even par round of 72, but he faltered on day two struggling on the greens to shoot a 15-over 87 for a two-day score of 15-over 159 and a 16th place finish totaling 5 birdies and an eagle. Fellow freshman Thomas Campbell then followed in 19th place with a score of 17-over 161 after rounds of 80 and 81. Freshman Josh Brown then completed the scoring for the Koalas placing 21st at 21-over 165 with rounds of 87 and 78, as he showed a 9-shot improvement on day two with three birdies.
Freshman Jaxon Mock then came in 28th place to lead the "B" team with rounds of 87 and 83 for a 26-over 170. Sophomore Ryan Lord then placed 31st at 28-over 172 with rounds of 85 and 87 while freshmen Zachary Mock and Christian Hadley came in 36th and 37th place with scores of 176 (90-86) and 177 (93-84) respectively. Hadley showed a huge improvement from one round to the next by 9 shots. Freshman Gavin Ratliff also competed and came in 39th at 180 with rounds of 86 and 94.
The Koala men will next return home when they host the Columbia College Koala Invitational next Monday and Tuesday from Timberlake GC in Chapin, SC.
