Coastal Georgia golfers close fall season with their third victory

The College of Coastal Georgia men’s golf team finished out a strong fall campaign with a runaway victory Monday at the Webber International Men’s Fall Classic in Lake Wales, Fla.

The Mariners, who are ranked second in the country in the NAIA Top 25, finished the three-round event at Lake Wales Country Club with a 24-under-par 840 and they won by a whopping 11 strokes over No. 20 Johnson & Wales which shot 851 to finish as the tournament runner-up.

Coastal Georgia was third after Saturday’s first round when the Mariners shot 3-over 291. They took a big lead, though, going into the final round on Monday when they posted a 12-under 272 score in the second round on Sunday. The Mariners came back with another low round over the final 18 as they finished with a flourish, shooting 277 for the day.

The team’s 840 score over the 54 holes is the third-lowest score for a three-round tournament in program history while the 24-under score is the second-lowest score to par in school history.

The win was the third for the Mariners in their four-tournament fall schedule.

“This was the best fall season in Coastal Georgia history with three wins and one runner-up finish ,” said Mariners’ head coach Mike Cook who led the team to national titles in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

“We have room to improve, but we should have lots of confidence going into the spring.”

For the Mariners, freshman Eli Scott was the low man as he contended for the individual title in the final round with a 7-under 65 score which was the best on the team on Monday.

Scott finished at 9-under 207 with scores of 73-69-65 and ended up a stroke back of the tournament winner.

Also for Coastal Georgia, Mark David Johnson finished fourth after going into the closing round two shots off the tournament lead which was held by teammate Kyle Kidd. Johnson shot 70 in the final round and finished at 7-under 209. His scores in the first two rounds were 72 and 67.

Johnson won the first three tournaments the Mariners participated in this fall.

Kidd, meantime, finished a stroke back at 6-under 210 to finish tied for fifth. He shot scores of 70-67-73.

Scott, Johnson and Kidd were also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Coastal Georgia’s Jackson Lawlor finished tied for eighth at 1-under 215 (77-69-69) and Chip Thompson shot 13-over 229 (76-76-77) to end up tied for 37^th.

Cody Booska from Johnson & Wales ended up as the individual winner with his 10-under 206 score that included rounds of 73-66-67.

The tournament consisted off teams that compete in The Sun Conference.

Keiser, ranked No. 6, was third at 857 and USC-Beaufort, ranked No. 5, was fourth at 870. Southeastern, which is receiving votes in the national poll, finished fifth at 875.