ETSU freshman Seamus Power captured the individual championship, but more importantly helped power the No. 13-ranked ETSU men’s golf team to its record 18th conference title and first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference championship Wednesday afternoon at The Golf Club at Sanctuary Cove.
Power, who enjoyed a hole-in-one during Tuesday’s second round, finished at 3-under par 210 for the tournament, two strokes better than North Florida’s Michael O’Neal.
Meanwhile, Power’s ETSU teammates also helped lift the Buccaneers to the win, as senior Rhys Davies posted back-to-back 68s to finish tied for third, while junior Gareth Shaw finished tied for fifth place.
The Bucs ended the event with a team score of 16-over-par 868 to finish 14 strokes better than second place UNF. With the victory, ETSU earns the A-Sun’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
“It was a good day and the guys played really well,” said head coach Fred Warren, who has directed the Bucs to 13 conference championships in his time at ETSU. “We were able to pull away on the front nine and hold that advantage the rest of the way. We’re really proud of Seamus. He played very solid to become the first freshman in our program to win a conference championship.”
Power, who used a 29 on the back nine Tuesday to build his lead, said he had one eye on O’Neal, but also kept his sights on his teammates Davies and Shaw.
“Obviously, I was watching the guy in second place, but it was a good competition within our team as well,” said Power, who collected his first collegiate win.
“I’m very happy to have had a couple good days on the course. As a team, all five of us are coming together at the right time.”
Davies, who has now helped lead the Bucs to a pair of conference titles in his time at ETSU, said there is still work to be done in the NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships.
“Obviously this is a good way to finish, but we’ve still got a couple tournaments to go,” said Davies, who is currently ranked No. 2 nationally by Golfweek.
“This was one of the things we aim to do as a team and to accomplish it is very pleasing.”
With the men’s golf conference championship, the ETSU athletic department has collected a total of six team championships this season and is just one shy of tying the program’s record for number of titles in a year, which was seven set in 1991-92.
The Bucs will have plenty of opportunities to break the long-time record with regular season championships in baseball and softball, and tournament titles in men’s tennis, women’s tennis, baseball, softball, men’s outdoor track and women’s outdoor track still up for grabs.
ETSU returns to action May 17-19 at the NCAA Regionals in Atlanta, Ga.

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