SAVANNAH, GA â€" With a pair of 73’s from senior Shane Convery and sophomore Austin Schultz, and 75’s from freshman Jason Huntington and senior Tim Crouch, Florida Southern moved up one more spot in the final round, and finished in fourth place out of 17 teams at the Armstrong Pirate Invitational on Tuesday.
The two-over par 73 posted by Schultz (Lakeland, Fla.) was his best round of the tournament, with his scores dropping from round-to-round. Convery’s 73 came on the heels of his second-round 72. Huntington (Lakeland, Fla.) and Crouch (Mount Vernon, Ohio) were the Moccasins’ other two counters on Tuesday and each of them finished in the top-20 of the 90-player field. For Huntington, it marked the first time in his five tournaments this year he finished as the Mocs’ top golfer, placing 18th with a 3-round total of 219 (+6). Crouch was only one stroke behind him at 220, and was tied for 20th.
With Convery tied for 25th with a 222 (+9), and Schultz and sophomore Alex Carpenter (Westerville, Ohio) both tied for 31st with scores of 224 (+11), Florida Southern was the only team in the tournament with all five of its golfers in the top half of the field, and nearly put all of them in the top third. Lynn was the only other school with five in the top-50, and the Knights' fifth golfer was in a 5-way tie for 50th.
Though Florida Southern’s 296 in the final round was short of its total in round two, it was still one of the top scores of the day. Lynn’s 287 was the best, but it still left the Knights short of Nova Southeastern, which beat host Armstrong by one stroke to win the tournament. The Sharks came into the game with a 2-stroke lead over Armstrong, and held on for their first win of the season after four other tournaments where they finished either second or third. The Sharks’ worst counter in the entire tournament was a 74.
Lynn finished third, six strokes behind Nova Southeastern, Florida Southern was fourth, and Saint Leo was fifth.
Clayton State’s Fredrik Lindblom won the individual title with a 4-under par 209 (68-73-68), finishing one stroke ahead of Armstrong’s Travis Williamson. Lynn’s Elliott Whitley was tied for third with Nova Southeastern’s Hunter O’Mahony and Mitch Farrer, who each shot a two-under par 211.
Florida Southern’s next tournament will be March 11-12 in Valdosta at the Southeastern Intercollegiate hosted by Valdosta State.
