DALTON, Ga. – Piedmont men’s golf captured its second consecutive Collegiate Conference of the South title, defeating Huntingdon in a playoff on Wednesday afternoon in Dalton, Georgia.
Holding a nine-stroke advantage heading into the final round, the Lions struggled out of the gate as the Hawks made a final round charge.
However, despite trailing at multiple points across the back nine, Piedmont showcased resiliency to battle back and finish strong to force a playoff, where it outlasted Huntingdon to take the title for the second straight season.
With all five players on both teams going back to 18 for a sudden-death playoff, four of the five from Piedmont hit the green in regulations and all four delivered standard two-putt pars with one bogey mixed in. Piedmont’s 1-over total score bested the Hawks by two to claim the championship.
Jacob DeJesus kept the Lions afloat in the early going, as the sophomore birdied four of his first six holes to go out in 4-under 32. Although he made three bogeys on his inward nine, he was able to get his round to the house at 1-under 71.
Adam Rogers was steady all day, making nothing worse than a bogey on his card to go along with a pair of birdies on his way to a 3-over 75.
Doug Gugel now has back-to-back top-five finishes in the CCS Tournament after a 4-over 76 in the final round. After going out in 3-over 39 on the front, he finished with six consecutive pars, including a clutch par at the last in the final pairing to force the playoff.
Remo Scholl came through in the clutch as well, mirroring Gugel’s 39-37-76 day to post the final counting score for the Lions as Connor Lane delivered a non-counting 87.
Covenant’s Drew Silman held on to take the individual title, finishing at -2 for the event to win by five strokes as the only player under par.
LIONS ON THE LEADERBOARD:
T-4th: Doug Gugel, 73-71-76 (+4)
6th: Jacob DeJesus, 76-74-71 (+5)
T-7th: Adam Rogers, 75-74-75 (+8)
T-16th: Remo Scholl, 75-82-76 (+17)
T-19th: Connor Lane, 73-78-87 (+22)
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
– DeJesus delivered his seventh par-or-better round of the season with a final round 1-under 71 that propelled the Lions to victory.
– Rogers now has back-to-back top-10 finishes at the CCS Championship with a T-7th this season and a T-5th last season.
NEWS AND NOTES:
– Piedmont had three top-10 finishers in the event.
HOW TO FOLLOW:
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