Photo Courtesy of Forest Stulting
Both Furman Women’s and Men’s Golf teams are dropping strokes in search of SoCon dominance this season.
With an eleventh place finish at the Cougar Classic in Hanahan, S.C, the Lady Paladins dropped 17 strokes from their first performance to finish with a three-day team score of +15 on their home course. Junior Taylor Totland led the team with an even par performance, boosting her to fourth place overall in individual honors.
The week prior, Furman Women’s Golf posted a three-day team total of +32 to finish in the bottom half of the competition. Senior Valentina Romero led the team with an individual total of +7.
The Lady Paladins won the SoCon Championship last year and sent a league-record five players to the All-SoCon team. Totland also received WGCA and Golfweek All-America Honorable Mention honors last season.
The team plans to keep the energy going from its home course performance at the Yale Intercollegiate in New Haven, Conn. Oct. 9-11.
As for the men, the team posted an overall score of +30 at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Burlington, Iowa this weekend. Senor Wehman Hopke fired a final round of 66 to finish even par for the tournament, boosting him into a tie for twenty-third place. The Paladins finished twelfth overall in a competitive team lineup, including tournament winner Iowa (-22).
The performance was 10 strokes better than their season-opening performance at the Rees Jones Invitational in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Senior Preston Cole led the Paladins with a +5 overall finish, putting him in a tie for eighth place. The team placed fifth overall at +40.
Last season, the men finished fifth in the SoCon, and Hopke and junior Bryce Howell were named to the All-SoCon Team.
The men’s next tournament will be Oct. 3-4 at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Furman Golf Course has also received an accolade of its own. Golfweek ranked the course sixteenth on the list of Best Campus Courses for 2015, moving up two spots from last year’s ranking.
Furman Women’s and Men’s coaches Kelley Hester and Todd Satterfield say they have enjoyed using the course for their teams.
“The staff does a wonderful job making sure we have a first-class product for our teams and the general public,” Hester said.
“It’s great to see our course ranked among the best college courses in the country,” Satterfield said. “We are fortunate to be able to call it home.”