Men’s Golf collapses at Furman Intercollegiate

The Western Carolina Men’s Golf team turned in their worst performance of the year on March 23-25 at the Furman Intercollegiate. After ending the first day at 19th, the Cats moved up to 18th on the second day, but on the final day of the Intercollegiate, the Catamounts imploded and finished dead last in 20th place. Western would shoot a 304, 298 and finally a horrible 318 to finish with a total score of 920. WCU would finish 12 strokes behind the nearest competitors, Davidson and Appalachian State. Virginia Tech would finish first in the tournament as they shot a three-day score of 873 on the 6,825-yard course in Greenville, S.C. Southern conference opponent Elon finished second in the tourney as they were four strokes behind the Hokies. Junior Matt Cook led the Catamounts in the dismal performance. Cook exemplified the Catamount’s performance as he led after the first round of the tournament with a 70. Cook then slipped each round with a 75 and finally an 81. Cook’s score of 226 was tied for 59th. Freshmen Ricky Stout and Patrick Lamb finished in ties for 74th and 70th, respectively. Stout shot a 75 on the first day, before improving a stroke on day two. Day three was a struggle, though, as Stout fired an 80. Lamb finished only one stroke behind Stout as he opened up the first day with an 80, but Lamb would put up the best Catamount performance over the final two rounds as he shot a 73 and 77. Both scores were the Catamount lows for day two and day three. Freshman Michael Chapin tied for 101st. Chapin shot a 79, 77 and finally an 82 to finish with a score of 238. Usually consistent senior Tripp Morrow played horribly as he had a terrifying 87 on the first day. Morrow did shoot better the rest of the tournament but still only carded a 76 and 80 to finish in 107th. Jason Judy of Elon won the tournament with a 211. Judy shot a 71, 71 and then ended the tournament with a phenomenal 69. Judy would win by three strokes. Western played the tournament without second-leading scorer sophomore Andres Cuenca. The Cats hope to have Cuenca back in action for their next tournament on April 1 and 2 at the Wofford Invitational.