This year’s homecoming weekend came with three rounds of competitive golf, as the Paladins hosted the annual Furman Intercollegiate tournament. Among the participating teams were Texas A&M, Wake Forest, Richmond and Wofford. Following Hurricane Helene, the Furman Golf Course underwent a week of closure prior to the tournament to ensure it was in good shape for the tournament.
The event structure included 36 holes on Saturday, Oct. 19, and a final 18 holes on Sunday, Oct. 20. The lineup for Furman remained stable this week with seniors Will Morlan and Trey Diehl, juniors Clark Akers and Harris Barth and freshman Ludvig Josefsson.
Round one saw a stellar performance from Akers that featured an eagle on the par-five 15th. Diehl also came out to a hot start and rolled in five birdies on the day on his way to a three-under 68. Despite the home course advantage, the Paladins sat a few shots back of the overall lead as the morning wave came to a close.
Saturday afternoon was a more consistent round for the Dins. Akers cooled off, but Barth took his place with a three-under 68 of his own. Josefsson had the fewest bogeys on the round for Furman and shot one-under to have his score included as well.
Heading into Sunday, the Dins were within arm’s length of the first place. Barth got off to a blazing start, rolling in four birdies on the front nine and three more on the back to card a 65. This score vaulted him into fifth place individually, where Akers would join him for a tie after shooting one-under. On Sunday, Morlan also came in at one-under.
The tournament came down to the wire early Sunday afternoon as Texas A&M had a three-shot lead going into hole 18. It became clear that on the short par-four, the Dins would need to have four birdies to go along with four pars on the Texas A&M side, a tall task to say the least.
Unfortunately, the homecoming luck was not on the Dins side as they were able to capitalize on two of the four birdies and finish two shots behind the Aggies. Regardless, Furman outperformed many good golf schools and will surely carry this momentum into the spring half of the season.
The fall season has come to a close for the Paladins, who currently sit at 60th in the national rankings. This ranking is sure to change once this most recent performance has been entered, giving them a good position to have a successful spring.
