The Furman men’s golf team traveled to Tennessee on Friday, April 5 to participate in the Mason Rudolph Championship, hosted by the Vanderbilt Commodores. The tournament was held at the Vanderbilt Legends South Course, a Tom Kite-designed par-71 course that is 7,190 yards long. Notable teams in the field amongst the Dins and the Vanderbilt Commodores included Ole Miss, Alabama and Kentucky.
Head Coach Matt Davidson’s lineup for this week was as follows:
Will Morlan (junior)
Harris Barth (sophomore)
Trey Diehl (junior)
Ross Funderburke (senior)
Walker Crosby (fifth year)
Individual: Zach Frazier (sophomore)
On day one, Furman got off to a solid start, as Crosby and Barth both finished their rounds under par. Barth reeled off an impressive display of consistency, paring 17 of his 18 holes on Friday. His lone birdie came on the par five 14 hole. Morlan was relatively consistent as well, posting one shot over par on both nines. Diehl showed his ability to fight back after a quadruple bogey on his opening hole, scoring a two-under-par score of 34 on the back nine. The Dins sat in sixth place after round one.
Saturday demonstrated improvement across the board as the day progressed. Every golfer finished over par on their front nine, which contained a combined four double bogeys and one triple bogey. However, resilience was shown on the back nine as every Din carded even or better to balance out the rocky start. By this time, Crosby had found himself in the top 10 on the leaderboard after his eagle on the 18 hole. He was also the only Furman golfer under par for the tournament through two rounds.
As the Sunday game commenced, it was clear that the tournament would go Vanderbilt’s way, but the scramble for the spots below them in the standings was on. Barth got the momentum going with three straight birdies on holes 3-5. Funderburke made an eagle on hole 14 and finished his round at two-under, his best of the weekend. Crosby alternated making bogeys and birdies for the middle part of the day, finishing at two-over-par and even par for the tournament. This put Crosby in a tie for 11th place.
When it was all said and done, Furman concluded the tournament in seventh place with three-round totals of 288, 291 and 286 shots. Considering the schools involved, this is a promising finish for Furman, but there is work to be done going forward. The Paladins now have a two-week countdown until the Southern Conference Championship on April 21-23 at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga., where they will battle for an automatic spot in a regional final.
