SANDESTIN, FLA. – The Appalachian State Men's golf team finished play at the Sun Belt Tournament this Tuesday, placing 12
th with a team score of 887.
The Mountaineers improved 13 strokes in their final round (290) from their second-round score of 303, this was helped by a career low round from Sophomore
Candler Rice with a 5-under-par 66, leading to a tied for 42
nd finish individually.
"Candler has been playing great golf the last couple of months but has not had a really low round," head coach
Bo Redman said. "He has been working hard on his pre-shot routine and trying to not get ahead of himself. His 66 in the last round will be a nice building block for him going into next year."
Senior
Chance Watson (219) and
Alex Burris (229) had good rounds in their final tournament for App, Watson with three rounds under 75 and Burris carding a 1-over 72 in his first round.
"Since I have been here, Chance and Alex have been the best two players on the team," Redman said. "We are going to miss them. They have been great teammates to the younger guys, always helping with course strategy, swing tips and encouragement. I know that they will both be very successful in their future lives. We are so blessed to have had them here."
Junior transfer
Nicholas Gunnell showed improvement in his first Sun Belt Tournament, improving his score each day, as well as total of 11 strokes from his first-round score, with a 75 in his final round. Fellow junior
Noah Schneider also got into the action in the final round, carding a 4-over 75.
"A couple of the guys had never played the course and it is a very intimidating layout," Redman said. "It is the type of course that experience is so important, the more familiar they got with the course the more comfortable they were."
Going into next season, the Apps will have a lot of good, young talent that will be returning with only two players graduating.
"We did not finish the year the way that we wanted to or were capable of, Redman said, regarding the age of the team. "We will use that as motivation for next year and we have a couple of talented young men coming in that we are very excited about."
Georgia Southern, ULM, Coastal Carolina and Arkansas State each made the final match play event today and will battle to see who will take home the title.
