The Furman men’s golf spring season rolled on Monday, March 10 and Tuesday, March 11 as the Paladins headed to Thomasville, Ga. to play in the Seminole Intercollegiate at Glen Arven Golf Club hosted by Florida State. The tournament field included teams such as Florida State, Wisconsin, Augusta and Arkansas.
As is customary, the Dins took five players to the three-round tournament where the four best scores would be counted towards the team total. After weeks of qualifying, Furman’s five consisted of seniors Trey Diehl and Will Morlan, freshmen Ludvig Josefsson and David Oliver lV and junior Harris Barth.
The weather played a big factor in the early parts of the tournament. It even prevented Furman from being able to play a practice round on Sunday, March 9 to get themselves accustomed to the course. Many of the tee times in the first round were delayed, and there were stoppages throughout the early parts of the tournament as inclement weather rolled through south Georgia.
In the first round of the tournament, the Dins got off to a rocky start. They were attempting to navigate their way through a wet and unfamiliar course. All five Furman golfers shot over par in their opening nine holes, but on the back nine, they began to claw their way back into contention — Morlan, in particular, shot a two-under 68.
The second round came with a lot of consistent golf from the Paladins. Morlan totaled 15 pars en route to a one-under 69 that had him positioned in sixth place. Josefsson battled through a tough middle stretch of his round and rolled in birdies on holes 13 and 15 to shoot a three-over 73. As a team, Furman slipped down to T-11 in the standings but still had a very opportunistic final round ahead of them.
The final day not only showed the best weather of the tournament but also Furman’s best round as a team. Barth came out hot with two birdies on the front nine and played very consistent golf for the duration of the round to fire a 69. Morlan battled through some early bogeys and capitalized with a nice birdie on the par-three-13th to secure a T-10 individual finish.
As a team, the Dins shot +21 and finished solo 10th in the tournament — a promising showing in a field of high-level talent.
Next up on the spring season calendar is the General Hackler Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C. which was played on March 16-18.
