University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Administaff Augusta State Invitational
Vols Leap to Seventh Behind Wingardh's Third-Place Showing
April 05, 2009 | Men's Golf
April 5, 2009
A tournament title already out of reach, Tennessee made the most of Sunday's final round by climbing four spots to a seventh-place finish at the Administaff Augusta State Invitational.
The scores were low all weekend at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., and UT combined for a 1-under 287 Sunday to finish with a 5-under-par score of 859. Host Augusta State blitzed the field with a 36-under total of 828, 13 strokes better than second-place Chattanooga's 23-under 841.
Robin Wingardh paced the UT effort with a tie for third on the individual leaderboard. The sophomore Swede fired all three rounds below par for his third collegiate top-five finish. Wingardh capped his tournament with a second consecutive 69 Sunday to finish at 8 under par for the weekend.
The Vols began the day's play on No. 10, and Wingardh was able to rebound from a bogey at 12 with birdies at 14 and 17. His second nine holes saw birdies at the second and fifth, a bogey at No. 8, and then a finishing birdie on the 541-yard, par-5 ninth for the third consecutive round.
David Holmes also birdied No. 9 all three rounds, leading the junior from Knoxville into a tie for 26th place at 3 under par. Holmes missed by just one shot his low tournament of the season -- a 4-under effort in October at Reno's Wolf Pack Classic -- thanks to four birdies Sunday against only two bogeys.
Garrick Porteous also scored for the Vols with an even-par 72. The freshman from Bamburgh Castle, England, was 2 under for the day through his first 14 holes behind birdies at the second and the fourth. But consecutive shots dropped on Nos. 6 and 7 capped his first venture into the Vols lineup with a tie for 65th place at 5 over par.
Darren Renwick fired a 76 Sunday to finish in a tie for 68th at 6 over par. His round began with a double bogey at the 10th before birdies at 11 and 14 sandwiched a bogey at the par-3 13th. Consecutive bogeys at Nos. 17, 18 and 1, however, dropped the England freshman to his final 4-over score for the day and that's where he would finish.
Tennessee's rock-solid senior, Chris Paisley, capped his second-worst showing in a collegiate tournament with a 77 Sunday. The Newcastle, England, product scored for the Vols in only one round this weekend and finished tied for 71st at 7 over par. UT's leader in every statistical category had not been so far down the individual leaderboard since a 102nd-place result at the 2007 NCAA Championships to conclude his sophomore campaign.
A sixth UT golfer, Cameron Lawrence, competed as an individual this weekend and tied for 56th place at 3 over par. The Brentwood sophomore shot a 74 Sunday that included five bogeys over his first nine holes against two birdies. Lawrence rallied over his second nine to post birdies at Nos. 2 and 8 before bogeying for the second round in a row at the par-5 ninth -- where he eagled in Round 1.
Twelfth-ranked Tennessee's 859 tied its second-best tournament score of the season. The Vols finished with an 857 at the Wolf Pack Classic and had an 859 for the Ping/Golfweek Preview at Toledo's Inverness Club. UT still has finished no worse than seventh in its nine tournaments for 2008-09. The Vols own three second-place showings, two thirds, a fifth, a sixth and two sevenths.
Tennessee's next competition is the SEC Championships on April 17-19 at St. Simons Island, Ga.
| TEAM SCORES | ||
| 1. | Augusta State | 278-273-277--828 (-36) |
| 2. | Chattanooga | 273-286-282--841 (-23) |
| 3. | Kent State | 286-275-282--843 (-21) |
| 4. | Central Florida | 282-275-292--849 (-15) |
| 4. | Coastal Carolina | 279-283-286--849 (-15) |
| 6. | Duke | 284-280-289--853 (-11) |
| 7. | TENNESSEE | 291-281-287--859 (-5) |
| 8. | Georgia State | 289-277-294--860 (-4) |
| 9. | Virginia Tech | 288-286-288--862 (-2) |
| 10. | USC Aiken | 289-282-293--864 (E) |
| 11. | Georgia Southern | 288-279-298--865 (+1) |
| 12. | Lamar | 294-287-285--866 (+2) |
| 13. | Charlotte | 298-283-292--873 (+9) |
| 14. | Virginia Commonwealth | 289-281-304--874 (+10) |
| 15. | Houston | 290-287-298--875 (+11) |
| 16. | Minnesota | 287-285-306--878 (+14) |
| 17. | North Carolina | 297-287-303--887 (+23) |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | ||
| 1. | Taylor Floyd, Augusta State | 68-67-67--202 (-14) |
| 2. | Derek Rende, Chattanooga | 66-69-71--206 (-10) |
| 3. | Robin Wingardh, TENNESSEE | 70-69-69--208 (-8) |
| 3. | Blayne Barber, Central Florida | 68-70-70--208 (-8) |
| 3. | Roberto Diaz, USC Aiken | 64-69-75--208 (-8) |
| 3. | Allen John, Georgia State | 72-66-70--208 (-8) |
| 3. | Janne Kaske, Augusta State | 71-68-69--208 (-8) |
| UT SCORES | ||
| t-3. | Robin Wingardh | 70-69-69--208 (-8) |
| t-26. | David Holmes | 74-69-70--213 (-3) |
| t-65. | Garrick Porteous | 73-76-72--221 (+5) |
| t-68. | Darren Renwick | 74-72-76--222 (+6) |
| t-71. | Chris Paisley | 75-71-77--223 (+7) |
| t-56. | *Cameron Lawrence | 71-74-74--219 (+3) |
Players Mentioned
