DICKSON, Tenn. (April 30, 2023) – Oglethorpe set the 54-hole scoring record at the Southern Athletic Association men’s golf championship and cruised to a fifth title in league history.
COMPLETE RESULTS
The ninth-ranked Stormy Petrels posted rounds of 277-269-293 at GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson, Tennessee, for an event record 839 strokes (-25). OU owned the previous record of 847 set in 2016. Their second round also went into the history books as the lowest in SAA tournament history.
Rhodes shot a final round 288 and moved up a spot into second place at 13-under (282-281-288) for the weekend. Sewanee finished a shot back of the Lynx in third, posting a 12-under score of 852 (282-277-293). Berry was five-over (290-291-288) and finished fourth.
Oglethorpe’s Beck Lewis rewrote the record books on his way to medalist honors. The sophomore finished 13-under with rounds of 67-63-73 for 203 strokes. His second round was an all-time best 18 holes in tournament history.
Foster Wood of Rhodes and Tenner Bronnum of Birmingham-Southern tied for second, both at nine-under. Wood turned in rounds of 70-67-70 while Bronnum carded scores of 65-67-75. Tripp Murphy of OU and Sewanee’s Grayson Maddox were both six-under and tied for fourth.
MEN'S GOLF SAA AWARDS
SAA Player of the Year: Pearse Lucas, Sewanee
SAA Newcomer of the Year: Tanner Bronnum, Birmingham-Southern
SAA Coach of the Year: Jim Owen, Oglethorpe
All-SAA First Team
Tanner Bronnum, Birmingham-Southern
Beck Lewis, Oglethorpe
Pearse Lucas, Sewanee
Michael O'Sullivan, Oglethorpe
Grayson Maddox, Sewanee
Tripp Murphy, Oglethorpe
Foster Wood, Rhodes
All-SAA Second Team
William Baker, Hendrix
Ryan Demit, Sewanee
Will Feagin, Rhodes
Sam Karman, Oglethorpe
Jay Sanders, Berry
Colin Edwards, Sewanee
DAY 2 RECAP
After posting the best first round in Southern Athletic Association Tournament history on Friday, ninth-ranked Oglethorpe smashed the all-time lowest round on Saturday and built a 13-stroke lead after day two. Beck Lewis of Oglethorpe set an individual low round record, shooting a 63 in the second round.
The Stormy Petrels scorched GreyStone Golf Club for a 19-under score of 269 on Saturday and are now 30-under for the event. They bettered the old single-round record of 276 set by the 2016 OU squad. Sewanee is second at 17-under for the championship after a second round 277. Rhodes is third at 13-under for the weekend.
The round featured 11 players shooting in the 60’s and 19 with scores of par or better.
Beck Lewis of Oglethorpe etched his name in SAA history as well, firing a record nine-under 63 on Saturday. Starting on the back-nine, he bogeyed the first hole of the day and regrouped with three birdies to hit the turn at two-under. Lewis then went on a run for the ages with five-straight birdies, two pars and two more birdies to play the last nine holes seven-under. He leads the field by two strokes at 14-under for the tournament.
Tanner Bronnum of Birmingham-Southern is second at 12-under after a second round 67, a day after tying the previous SAA scoring record of 65. The freshman was bogey free on Saturday with five birdies. Foster Wood of Rhodes and Grayson Maddox of Sewanee both shot 67 on Saturday and are tied for third at seven-under.
The 2023 SAA Championship will conclude on Sunday with 18-final holes, starting at 7:30 a.m.
DAY 1 RECAP
Ninth-ranked Oglethorpe posted the best opening round in Southern Athletic Association Men’s Golf Championship history and jumped out to a five-stroke lead on Friday afternoon.
The championship is being hosted at GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson, Tennessee.
With five players in the top-18, Oglethorpe shot an 11-under opening round score of 277. They were just one stroke off the all-time low round set by OU in 2016 and beat the SAA first round record by eight strokes, set by Berry in 2015.
Rhodes and Sewanee both turned in six-under scores of 282 and are tied for second. Berry is fourth at two-over and Centre (+6) rounds out the top-five.
Birmingham-Southern’s Tanner Bronnum scorched the course for a seven-under round of 65. He bested the all-time first round of 67 set by Berry’s Tommy McClosky in 2015 and tied Ryan Henry of Millsaps for the all-time lowest round (2016). Bronnum had five birdies and was four-under at the turn on his way to nine total birdies in the round.
Beck Lewis of Oglethorpe is second after an opening round 67 (-5). He was also four-under at the turn and six birdies on the day.
Will Feagin of Rhodes and Thomas Reininger of Oglethorpe both shot four-under rounds of 68 and are tied for third. Will Hacker from Centre carded an eagle on the 307-yard, par-four 10
th and is alone in fifth after a three-under 69.
The second round is slated for Saturday, April 29 with the first groups going off at 7:30 a.m. on hole 10.