Junior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) has picked up where he left off a year ago winning tournaments and breaking ETSU records.
Davies fired a final round score of 4-under-par 68 and finished a grueling four-hole playoff with Tennessee’s Jonathan Mount as co-champion of the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate Tuesday at the Shoal Creek Golf Club in Birmingham, Ala. Davies, who had been tied with former ETSU great Garrett Willis for the all-time career win record with five a year ago, now stands alone atop the Buccaneer record lists with six individual titles.
“To get a win in the first tournament of the year is pleasing,” said Davies, who now has 16 career sub-70 rounds and has won a remarkable six of his last 11 collegiate events. “It’s also pleasing to see how well we played as a team. That’s a really positive way to start things this year.”
Indeed, not to be lost in Davies’ individual accomplishment was the Bucs’ overall fourth-place finish in the team standings. ETSU ended the event just six strokes back of team champion LSU, besting several quality teams, including five that were ranked in the nation’s Top 50 a year ago (Florida, Georgia State, SMU, Alabama and UCF).
The Bucs managed the quality showing thanks to a strong team effort. Sophomore Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) showed strong improvement and took his game to another level, finishing tied for 10th after starting the tournament atop the leaderboard with a first-round score of 69. Meanwhile, fellow sophomore Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland) ended the tournament with a solid finish in 31st, while freshmen Adam Hodkinson (Dore, England) and Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh, Scotland) both posted solid rounds in their first-ever collegiate tournament.
Following regulation play, Notre Dame’s Cole Isban was knocked out of the three-way playoff on the first hole, leaving Davies and Mount to battle it out for three more holes.
Davies was forced to sink long putts to stay alive on the first and third playoff hole, while Mount enjoyed a break on the second playoff hole when his shot found the trees and then kicked back into the fairway. After remaining deadlocked after the fourth playoff hole, both Davies and Mount were named individual medalists.
According to ETSU head coach Fred Warren, the event was a perfect way to begin the 2005-06 season.
“It would be easy to find six shots we left out there, but it was definitely a positive start to the season,” Warren said. “Rhys continues to play well, but everyone on the team gave us something. Gareth played especially well.” ETSU will return to action in a week, playing at the Mattaponi Springs Shootout in Richmond, Va., beginning on Oct. 3.

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