The ETSU Golf Team traveled to the Coca Cola UT Tournament of Champions at the historical Holston Hills Country Club over fall break this past Monday and Tuesday.
The tournament was the second to last tournament of the fall semester for the Bucs. The field at this year’s Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Tennessee, included six of the top 50 ranked teams in the nations.
The University of Tennessee was the highest ranking at No. 9 and has the highest-ranking player, freshman Philip Pettitt at No. 9.
Pettitt recently won the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at the Ridges in his first tournament at Tennessee.
Others top 50 teams included cross conference rival No. 20 Georgia Southern, No. 29 Louisville, No. 33 Vanderbilt, No. 36 Pepperdine, and No. 47 Alabama.
Canadian and Swedish Junior National teams were also in the tournament.
Tennessee shot an even par- first round followed by a one over- par second round for four-stroke lead over Alabama after two rounds on Monday. The Bucs finished Monday in third after a one-over-par first round followed by a four-over second round.
Vanderbilt finished a stroke back of the Bucs at eight over followed by Virginia who finished 12 over, after having the low round of the tournament in the first round at two under but blew it when they hit a 298, 14 strokes over par.
In the first round Davies fired a four-over-par 75 before adjusting to the course.
The second round opened up with showers and strong winds making the course much tougher. Luckily for the Bucs, Davies fired a seven-under-par 64 matching the all-time school record rescuing ETSU.
“When the wind and rain came in I really thought I could hold my score and I had a great finish,” Davies said. “Having played so much in wind and bad weather, I knew how to allow for the wind and other conditions. I learned from those experiences and used that to my advantage.”
Davies record tying performance tied Chris Wisler’s 64 set in 2000 at the Golf World Invitational.
At the end of Monday’s round one and two Davies was one stroke off the lead in the individual race while freshmen Cian McNamara and Gareth Shaw finished second on the team.
Both showed their quality future to come tying at 17th, just 5 strokes back of Davies. Steve Arnold finished four over par to tie at 39. Senior Cennydd Mills was able to finish with a 12-over-par to tie at 71.
Tuesday’s final round three-over-par helped the Bucs get their best finish of the season at third.
Tennessee was able to continue their great performance this season, shooting par again in Tuesday’s round as a team to win their second tournament of the year and a record third win at the Tournament of Champions.
The Bucs finished at 10-over-par four strokes behind Alabama who finished second ,five shots back of Tennessee. Tennessee finished just one over par.
Virginia ended up finishing fourth, 12 over par for the tournament followed by Louisville and Pepperdine who tied for fifth.
The Bucs were again led by Davies who shot a one under par 70.
Davies himself finished 2 strokes back of individual winner Aron Price. Price won the individual honors for a record second time this year.
Freshmen Shaw and McNamara continued their great playing. Gareth Shaw was able to finish up the final round with an even par 71 to finish the tournament two over par tying for 14th.
Cain Mcnamara played just as good but shot a two-over-par 73 to finish up the tournament tied at 21st, four over par for the tournament.
Arnold finished Tuesday’s round nine over par ending the tournament in a tie for 59, meanwhile Mills shot his best round of the tournament just two over par finishing a stroke behind Steve to tie at 62.
ETSU has quite a record at the Tournament of Champions.
In 1995 and 1996 ETSUwon back-to-back titles, the only team to have won back-to-back, while in 89 and 93 we were runners up. The Bucs have also won in the individual field.
The Men’s Golf team now heads to their final tournament of the fall season at the Carpet Capital later in November.

Author