April 20, 2009

Eagles Lead by a Stroke after 36 Holes at SAC Championships

April 20, 2009

ETOWAH, N.C. --- The Carson-Newman Eagles carded a 36-hole tally of 586 and lead by one shot after the opening day of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Golf Championship Monday at the Etowah Valley Country Club and Golf Resort.

The Eagles fired back-to-back rounds of 293 and lead by one stroke over tournament host Brevard College and three shots ahead of No. 20 Newberry College (589). Five teams are within 12 shots of the lead including Wingate University (592) and Tusculum College (598). Mars Hill College is sixth with 603, followed by Lincoln Memorial University (604), Lenoir-Rhyne University (612) and Catawba College (616).

C-N's Brad Robinson (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Liam Ashby (Dublin, Ireland) are in a three-way tie for fifth place with David Crawford of Wingate at 145 (+1) to push the Eagles to the one-stroke lead.

Junior Cory Hinchey (Abingdon, Va.) is eight strokes off the pace set by SAC Player of the Year Chase Carroll who shot 140 for the first two rounds. Hinchey fired a pair of 74stttt to post a 148 on the opening day, good for 13th.

Eagle junior Chase Conn (Mason, Ohio) is 27th after 36 holes. He carded a 77-76 (+9) for a 153 on the day.

Carroll holds a two-shot lead over Mars Hill's Josh Spradling, who fired a two-under par 71-71=142. Defending SAC Tournament medalist Ben Lown of Newberry, is three shots out of the lead with his 72-71=143 (-1). Brevard's Chris White, fired a three-under par 69 in Monday's second round and is in fourth place. Lincoln Memorial's Cory Bartlett and Bret McGaughey of Brevard are tied for eighth at 146, while the trio of Chad Skinner (Mars Hill), Eric Kennedy (LMU) and John Palermo (Wingate) are tied for 10th place at 147.

The final round of the 54-hole championship will be held Tuesday morning at the par 72, 6,796-yard layout.

2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Golf Championships
Etowah Valley, N.C.
Etowah Valley Country Club and Golf Resort
Par-Yardage: 72-6796
1 Carson-Newman Coll. 293 293 586
T 5 Brad Robinson 73 72 145
T 5 Liam Ashby 74 71 145
T 13 Cory Hinchey 74 74 148
27 Chase Conn 77 76 153
T 32 Blake Howard 72 85 157

Team Scores
1 Carson-Newman Coll. 293 293 586 +10
2 Brevard College 293 294 587 +11
3 Newberry College 291 298 589 +13
4 Wingate University 293 299 592 +16
5 Tusculum College 297 301 598 +22
6 Mars Hill College 298 305 603 +27
7 Lincoln Memorial U. 298 306 604 +28
8 Lenoir-Rhyne Univ. 307 305 612 +36
9 Catawba College 302 314 616 +40