West Florida claims the 2016 GSC Men's Golf Championship
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. - West Florida is the 2016 GSC Men’s Golf Tournament Champion after defeating Lee in a sudden-victory playoff round.
Lee led West Florida through the first two days. The Flames held a four-shot lead over the Argos after day one and increased their lead to seven shots on day two, but the Argonauts did not give in. Led by Chandler Blanchet and Henry Westmoreland IV, West Florida made up the seven-stroke different with a round-low 281.
Westmoreland, who tied for seventh place, finished with a 67 in round three. Blanchet, the individual champion, followed up his 71 and 68 from the first two rounds with a 69, including a birdie on the final hole that forced the playoff. Overall, West Florida finished seven-under for the round and caught up with Lee who was par for the course.
In order to determine the winner, the teams were split into two groups and put on the 18
th tee box. After birdies by each squad on the opening hole, the teams remained even at one under par. The playoff moved to the first hole where the first group all made par. Then, in the second grouping, West Florida’s Bryce Geraghty, who tied for 11
th in regulation, sank a birdie to win the Argonauts their fourth-consecutive conference championship.
Individually, the champion Blanchet never trailed through the 54-hole tournament. After shooting a low-round 71 on Sunday, Blanchet was tied with Lee’s Shea Sylvester. The West Florida freshman improved in round two with a 68 to take a one-shot lead over Sylvester. Three birdies in Tuesday’s final round gave Blanchet a final four-shot lead over Sylvester and pushed him to eight-under for the tournament.
Six golfers earned positions on the GSC All-Tournament team. Following Blanchet and Sylvester, Christian Brothers’ Dallas Shepard, North Alabama’s Forrest Knight and James Medley and Lee’s Peyton Sliger rounded out the top five.
GSC All-Tournament Team
Chandler Blanchet, UWF
Shea Sylvester, Lee
Forrest Knight, UNA
Dallas Shepard, CBU
James Medley, UNA
Peyton Sliger, Lee
Round One Recap
Round Two Recap
TEAM LEADERBOARD INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD