Eagles win Tanglewood Invitational; Kim-Moss finishes second behind final round 67
CLEMMONS, N.C. – The Carson-Newman Eagles matched the tournament low of 284 (+4) in the final round to overcome a one-stroke deficit and win the Will Wilson Tanglewood Invitational on Tuesday at the Tanglewood Park Golf Club. The Eagles beat Wingate University by two strokes to pick up the tournament championship.
CLEMMONS, N.C. – The Carson-Newman Eagles matched the tournament low of 284 (+4) in the final round to overcome a one-stroke deficit and win the Will Wilson Tanglewood Invitational on Tuesday at the Tanglewood Park Golf Club.
The Eagles beat Wingate University by two strokes to pick up the tournament championship.
C-N's three round total of 861 (+21) was the best in a nine-team field, which included Wingate (863), UNC Pembroke (865), North Georgia (875), and Newberry (880) in the top five.
"Golf is such a tough sport to win in," Eagle head coach John Minor said on Monday night. "It was a great team effort that showed a lot of patience. The big thing is how we finish. It's so difficult. This was a hard golf course coming down the stretch, but we were able to hang in."
Sophomore Jonathan Kim Moss (Mississaugua, Ontario) turned in the low round of the tournament in Tuesday's final round. The South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year from a season ago shot a career-low 67 (-3) to lead the Eagles in the final round. He finished second overall at an even-par 210, three strokes behind North Georgia's Howard Duffin, who won with a 207 (-3).
"(Kim-Moss) really improved in each round," Minor said. "He came out and played as confident as anyone on the course on Tuesday. He had back-to-back rounds in the 60's. The numbers speak for themselves."
Kim-Moss was one of three Eagles to crowd the top 11.
Senior Liam Ashby (Dublin, Ireland) finished in a tie for fifth at 212 (+2). He shot a 71 (+1) on Tuesday to finish five strokes back. Ashby double-bogeyed the last hole of the tournament to slip from even par, but his steady play carried the Eagles throughout the tournament, including 16 pars and a birdie through his first 17 holes on Tuesday.
"Liam was rock-solid." Minor said of Ashby. "He's the leader of this team. He gave us three really solid rounds on a tough golf course."
Junior Gavin Hay (Glasgow, Scotland) finished eight strokes off the pace. He fired a 72 (+2) in the final round to finish tied for 11th.
Senior Alex Coughlin (Jefferson City, Tenn.) shot a 4-over 74 as the fourth counted score in the Eagles' 284 total. He finished in a tie for 24th to give the Eagles four finishers in the in top half of a field that included a handful of ranked teams.
Junior Michael Horenkamp (Abingdon, Va.) shot a 77 in Tuesday's final round and closed the tournament tied for 42nd.
Carson-Newman returns to action next week (Oct. 24-25) at the Rollins College Invitational played at the Rio Pinar Country Club in Orlando, Fla.
