University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Carpet Capital Collegiate
Vols Play Tough Competition
September 12, 2012 | Men's Golf
Sept. 12, 2012
DALTON, Ga.
Over the weekend, the Tennessee men's golf team hit the links for first time to kick off the 2012-13 season. The Vols were down in Dalton, Ga., for the Carpet Capital Collegiate golf tournament. The event was held Sept. 7th-9th at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga., which is a ten minute drive northwest from Dalton, Ga.
During the Carpet Capital Classic, "The Farm" was host to the biggest and best of NCAA Division I men's golf. Of the fifteen teams in attendance, seven teams were ranked and five had received votes in the NCAA Preseason Rankings (Click Here To View Rankings). Of the seven ranked teams, four were from the Top 10 including no. 1 Alabama, and no. 2 Texas. The Classic had six teams from the Southeastern Conference, the most of any conference, and three teams from the state of Tennessee (University of Tennessee, UT-Chattanooga, Middle Tennessee State).
Tennessee hung tough with such an experienced field of teams. The Volunteers managed to finish the weekend at no. 8; ahead of ranked teams like Auburn (6), Georgia Tech (7) and North Florida (15).
The Vols finished 12-over par (+12) for the weekend with a score of 876 (299 / 290 / 287). Head coach Jim Kelson's bunch should be praised as they battled back from being in 14th place after round one to finish the tournament in 8th place.
For the Carpet Capital Collegiate, Kelson went with the following starting five golfers: Jay Vandeventer (Senior), Rick Lamb (Senior), Marshall Talkington (Junior), Brandon Rodgers (Junior) and Mike Nagy (Freshman).
Of the five Vols, the true freshman, Nagy, put up the most impressive numbers. Nagy finished the weekend with a 2-under par 214 (70 / 71 / 73), which was good enough for 11th place. For a complete breakdown of the Vols' scores, please click here. After the tournament, Kelson stressed that the team is capable of a much better finish. However, he was pleased to see the Vols compete against some the best golf schools in the nation.
The winner of the tournament was the University of Texas. The Longhorns had both the best team score and individual golfer score. As a team, Texas shot a 13-under par (-13) for a weekend total of 851 (293 / 266 / 292). The top golfer was Texas' Brandon Stone who posted a score of 12-under par (-12) for a total of 204 (69 / 63 / 72).
The Vols are off for a weekend before returning to action on Sept. 23rd at the Windon Memorial in Chicago, Ill.
For more information, follow the Volunteers on Twitter @Vol_Golf.
