The Furman men’s golf team hit the road for The Hootie on Saturday, Mar. 22 where they would prepare for a three-day, three-round tournament at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Mount Pleasant, S.C. This is a tournament and a course that the Paladins are familiar with, having participated in years past. Current Furman senior Will Morlan won the individual title at Bulls Bay back in 2023 as a sophomore.
Day one started great for the Dins as a team. Junior Clark Akers had the hottest start of anyone, going birdie-birdie-eagle on holes two, three and four. He kept that momentum up as he fired a seven-under 65 and sat at the top of the leaderboard. There was more stellar play from junior Harris Barth, who shot a bogey-free three-under 69. Both scores lifted Furman to a third-place standing at the end of the first day — one of their best starts this year.
As round two began, Furman’s ability to carry over the momentum from day one was in question. There was a mix of birdies and bogeys by all Furman golfers on the front nine, and everyone was huddled around even par at the halfway point of the afternoon.
On the back nine, the Dins stepped on the gas. Barth reeled off a string of birdies to get to three-under, and Morlan capitalized with birdies on 15 and 17 to get himself back under par for the tournament.
Akers played a steady round that included 14 pars as well as some birdies that lifted him into first place individually at nine-under for most of the afternoon. When the second day wrapped up, Akers sat in solo-second place with just 18 holes to go in the tournament. As a team, Furman jumped up to second place, six shots behind Purdue.
The final round posed a great opportunity for Furman to make a run to the top. The team took full advantage of the great weather conditions and came out hot on the front nine. Every Din shot under par in their first nine holes, and Furman found themselves in first place on the team leaderboard heading into the final nine holes of the tournament.
The back nine had other plans, as the wind picked up and the scores began to increase. Furman head coach Matt Davidson told the team before the round that they needed a hot start on the front and to stay afloat on the back. Unfortunately, the Dins couldn’t hang onto their lead, and a one-over team total on the back nine dropped them into third place overall.
On the individual leaderboard, Barth was able to secure a fifth place finish at 10-under, and Akers came in seventh at nine-under. Morlan and Diehl both tied for 27th at three-under.
This strong finish will certainly give the Dins confidence heading into their next tournament, the Haskins Invitational at Forest Hills on Apr. 5-6.
