MEN'S GOLF: WIDE OPEN, AND CLOSED

CU DENIED IN BID FOR BACK-TO-BACK WVIAC TITLES

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Even though the Concord Men's Golf team held the lead going into the final round of the 2011 WVIAC Championships, the advantage was far from secure and a wide-open finish was expected.

When that wide-open final round came to an end Tuesday afternoon, the Mountain Lions found themselves just barely closed out from winning back-to-back titles.  (CU set a conference record with a 52-shot victory last year.)

However, Concord came out of the three-day event at the Glade Springs Resort with one victory – junior Sebastian Starud won Medalist honors after a one-hole playoff.

As a team, CU finished 4th.  Concord posted a 311 team score in the final round to finish at 942.  That was eight shots behind the meet champion, Bluefield State, which held off runner-up Pitt-Johnstown by two strokes. 

Immediately after the final round, it appeared Concord finished in 3rd place at 306.  But the 75 recorded by Nathaniel Begley – which tied for CU's top round of the day – was disqualified after tournament officials ruled Begley had inadvertently signed for an incorrect total on his scorecard. 
The ruling added five shots to the Mountain Lions' final team score and moved West Liberty up to third place at 939.  The University of Charleston was fifth at 952.

Starud posted Concord's best rounds in each round of the tournament, and he topped the team with a 75 on Tuesday.  His 226 aggregate score put him in a three-way tie with Nick Dent of Bluefield State and Joey Seabright of West Liberty, and the trio settled things with a sudden-death playoff that began on the par-4 Hole #1 of Glade Springs' Cobb Course.

Starud parred the hole, Seabright played his way out contention and Dent missed a chance to extend the playoff when he missed a short par putt.

Starud becomes the third straight Concord player to win Medalist honors, and the sixth in CU history.
Ryan Terdik won in 2009 and Emmanuel Charmat in 2010.  Before that, Tim Wilson was Medalist in 1999, Scott George in 2002 and Matt Horn in 2005.

On Tuesday, Matt Morgan (above left) carded his second straight 77 to finish at 237.  Evan Muscari (upper right) posted his second straight 79 to finish at 235.  Jamie Arthur fired an 80 – his top round of the tournament – to finish at 252.  Begley had shot an 81 on Sunday and an 83 Monday before the DQ of his final round.

FINAL TEAM-BY-TEAM LEADERBOARD

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