Bobcat golfers finish 10th in final fall event

Georgia Northwestern’s 2018 fall golf season finished up last Tuesday with the third and final round of the TruettMcconnell Fall Preview at the Barnsley Gardens Resort course in Adairsville, Ga.

The Bobcats, who finished fifth at the USCAA Nationals in Pennsylvania earlier this month, could not find the same magic closer to home as they placed 10th out of 12 teams in what was a very solid field.

Georgia Northwestern (961) shot rounds of 322 and 324 on Monday before improving to a 315 on Tuesday. Dalton State finished the tournament at 885 to beat Point University from Georgia (895) by 10 shots. Usc-beaufort (900) took third, five shots behind Point.

Individually, freshman Ryan Redd set the pace for the Bobcats. The Sonoraville High School product carded an 84 in his opening round on Monday, but followed with back-to-back 76’s to finish at 236, which was enough to tie him for 33rd place overall.

Sophomore Cole Roberts (77-79-82) finished tied for 41st with a 238. Freshman Noah Hankins (79-89-77) tied for 52nd place at 245. Sophomore Lane Strickland (82-80-88) finished 57th at 250 and Spencer Alexander (89-93-80) was 64th at 262.

Head coach Eddie Jackson said he was pleased with how his team competed, especially in the tournaments against scholarship schools.

“We didn’t beat a lot of them, but I thought we competed very well and that was the big thing,” he said. “I was very pleased with us finishing fifth at Nationals, but one of the things I’m most pleased about is that coaches from other schools have been emailing me. There’s a lot of interest in our guys and that just shows me that they can play.

“This group works hard, they have a great work ethic and they really play together well as a team. It’s fulfilling for a coach to see a team like that.”

Jackson said his team could schedule some dates for the spring of 2019, but nothing has been decided yet.