Battling through unfavorable conditions on Tuesday, the Western Carolina men’s golf team used the intimate knowledge of its par-70, 6,727-yard home course at the Waynesville Inn & Golf Club to card the best team round over the final 18 holes and climb two spots to finish within a stroke of the podium as play concluded in the 2024 JT Poston Invitational.
WCU was the only team under par through the final 18 holes, shooting 276 for a three-round score of 839 to advance two positions to finish fourth at its home fall tournament.
Lipscomb led the tournament from start to finish to become the 14th different team to collect the team championship in the tournament’s history – and the first to win at WCU’s new home venue for the Poston Invitational. The Bisons earned the wittingly unique “JT The Postman” mailbox trophy and etched their school name onto the small golden plaque that adorns the base of the event trophy that resides in Cullowhee to commemorate each tournament.
Overnight rain showers dampened the course before turning into a light mist ahead of Tuesday morning’s shotgun start. The morning mist turned to drizzle and eventually into a steady rain before moving to off-and-on showers that peppered the 88-golfer field.
Western Carolina’s scoring five was led by junior Ivan Ninkovic who climbed 13 positions on Tuesday to come home in a seventh-place tie with a three-round score of 1-under par 209. The Pula, Croatia, product had one blemish with a bogey on the par-4 eighth, otherwise carding three birdies and 13 pars. Ninkovic was joined inside the individual Top 10 by freshman Chase Cline who moved one spot into a five-way tie for ninth at even-par 210. Cline countered a pair of bogeys with a trio of birdies for his second-consecutive score of 69.
WCU’s Tuesday rally was spurred by the climb in the standings by junior transfer Callum Waugh and senior Kiefer Bulau. Waugh advanced 14 positions into a tie for 14th with his best round of the event at 1-under par 69, while Bulau moved a team-best 15 positions and into a tie for 22nd by shooting even-par 70. A product of Glasgow, Scotland, Waugh had a busy final round, recording five birdies to counter four bogeys to shoot 1-under 69. With family down from “North of the Border,” the Canadian-born striker had a quiet final 18 holes that included 16 pars and countering one bogey with a birdie – the sixth of his tournament.
All told Waugh led the Catamount lineup with 13 total birdies, followed by Ninkovic with 12 and Cline with 11. Waugh added one of two eagles for WCU with Andrew Korytoski also carding one in the second round. Bulau finished tied for the most pars over the 54-hole event with 39 total.
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five was sophomore Jace Butcher matched Waugh in the 14th-place tie at 1-over par 211 after shooting 71 over the final 18 holes. Butcher countered three bogeys with two birdies.
Among the four Catamount individuals, sophomore Dalton Payne moved a dozen positions over the final round with a 2-over par 72. He finished the event at 8-over par, 218. Classmate Andrew Korytoski slipped into a tie for 42nd overall with a tournament score of 219 which included his career-low round of 67 on Monday. Sophomore Michael Bevins finished tied for 55th at 11-over par 221 and redshirt junior Josh Lendach was 87th overall, firing 76 over the final round to finish at 231.
Led by individual medalist Alejandro Rodriguez, Lipscomb cruised to the team championship, though runner-up Kennesaw State ratcheted up the pressure over the final 18 holes. The Bisons held off the hard-charging Owls side that was six strokes better over the final 18 holes but were unable to overcome Lipscomb’s two-round lead. Lipscomb finished with a three-round score of 829 with Kennesaw State carding a team score of 837.
Coastal Carolina slid to third place and edged the rising Catamounts by a stroke, 838-to-839, with the Xavier Musketeers (853) rounding out the Top Five in the team championship event.
Rodriguez carded his third-straight round in 60s on Tuesday with a final-round 1-under par 69 for a three-round total of 10-under par 200. He carried a four-stroke advantage over runner-up Drew Sykes of Coastal Carolina who likewise was in the 60s all week, finishing at 6-under par 204. Kennesaw State’s Claes Borregaard and Vaclav Tichy of James Madison were tied for third with matching 5-under par scores of 205.
Western Carolina returns to action in three weeks as the team heads to the Palmetto State for the Carolina Cup, hosted by USC Upstate at the Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg. The three-round, three-day event is slated for Sunday, Oct. 6 through Tuesday, Oct. 8.
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4 – Western Carolina – 282 – 281 – 276 = 839 (-1)
T7 – Ivan Ninkovic – 70-71-68 = 209 (-1)
T9 – Chase Cline – 72-69-69 = 210 (E)
T14 – Callum Waugh – 71-71-69 = 211 (+1)
T14 – Jace Butcher – 70-70-71 = 211 (+1)
T22 – Kiefer Bulau – 71-72-70 = 213 (+3)
T37 – Dalton Payne (ind.) – 75-71-72 = 218 (+8)
T42 – Andrew Korytoski (ind.) – 73-67-79 = 219 (+9)
T55 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 74-72-75 = 221 (+11)
87 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 80-75-76 = 231 (+21)WCU Makes a Splash in Final Round, Rallies to Fourth at Poston Invitational
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