Cougars Finish in Fourth at PBC Championship.
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Pine Mountain – The Columbus State University men's golf team made a early charge up the leaderboard including getting within striking distance of the leader before fading on the back nine to finish the 21st Peach Belt Conference Tournament in fourth place. The Cougars shot a two-over par 290 in the final round, which tied USC Aiken for the lowest for the day. The tournament was held at the Mountain View Golf Course at Callaway Gardens.
UNC Pembroke won its first conference championship in program history besting USC Aiken on the first playoff hole. The two teams finished play in round three both sporting eight-over pars 864's.
It was the just the second playoff in PBC history with the first coming in 1993 when CSU defeated USC Aiken.
Behind the top-two teams were Georgia College (875), CSU (882), Armstrong Atlantic State University (886), Georgia Southwestern (890), Flagler (893) and Clayton State (905). Rounding out the field was North Georgia (925), Montevallo (932) and Lander (942).
Joel Dahlenburg of Flagler was the individualist medalist for the second straight year firing a three-under par 213.
Second Team All-Conference member Justin Grice led the Cougars on Tuesday shooting a five-under par 67. With that score, Grice tied the low round of the tournament as Dahlenburg and Craig Gibson of Georgia Southwestern both fired 67's in the second round on Monday.
With Grice having an off day in the first two-rounds, the senior finished the tournament six-over par 222 and in a tie for 13th place.
Senior Daniel Glidewell was consistent all through the tournament as he shot an even par 72 in the final round. On the back nine, Glidwell was three-under par as he birdied holes 11, 12 and 13.
The Opelika, AL native turned in two even par rounds while shooting a two-over par 74 in round two for a total of two-over 218. He was the highest finisher for CSU finishing in a tie for sixth place.
Entering the final day in contention, Stephen Swanepoel shot a four-over par 76 in the third round. Swanepoel got off to a quick start birding the first two holes of the day, however, he did not make one for the rest of the round. For the tournament, he was four-over par 220 and just missed out on a top-10 finish coming in a tie for 11th place.
For the third consecutive round, senior Rourke Van der Spuy shot a three-over par 75. After six holes, the 2011 All-American was two-under par but bogeys at holes seven and nine put him even through the front nine.
At hole 11, Van der Spuy double-bogeyed and finished his round with a bogey on 18. For the championship, he was nine-over par 225 and came in a tie for 21st place.
Steven Paine had CSU's drop score in round three shooting a five-over par 77. He was 13-over par 229 for the tournament finishing in a tie for 32nd place.
Columbus State will look to continue its trend of advancing to the NCAA Tournament as they will now wait and see if they will be selected to the NCAA Southeast Regional. The Cougars have made the field every year since becoming a NCAA sanctioned school.
