GREENSBORO, Ga. (April 23, 2024) – The Southern Conference men's golf championship continues to run through Johnson City.
For the fourth straight year and 24th time in program history, the Buccaneers are crowned Kings of the SoCon!
Thanks to a blazing hot start, No. 20 ETSU was able to open a large lead and overcame a late surge by No. 43 Chattanooga as the Buccaneers posted their wire-to-wire win with a tournament score of 30-under-par 834 on Tuesday at The Oconee Course.
The Bucs, who registered 26 birdies in the final round, shot an 8-under 280 in today's finale and held off Chattanooga to win by two shots over the Mocs. ETSU tore it up on the front nine with 18 birdies, including Matty Dodd-Berry starting his round with six straight. Chattanooga went low on Tuesday with a 10-under 278 and finished the tournament at 28-under-par 836. No. 40 UNCG placed third at 8-under-par 856.
With the four straight SoCon titles, ETSU – the only SoCon program to have multiple streaks of four straight wins – has now accomplished the feat four times in program history. The Bucs won four-in-a-row from 1998-2001 and 1989-1992, and five straight from 1979-83. ETSU and Duke are the only programs to win four straight SoCon Championships in tournament history as the Blue Devils won eight consecutive titles from 1935-42.
As a team, ETSU led the field with 70 birdies and paced the groups in par-3 (3.17) and par-4 scoring (3.95).
In a reversal from last year, ETSU held a 14-shot lead on Tuesday before seeing Chattanooga make a run late to eventually take the lead for a short minute. However, back-to-back birdies by
Mats Ege on No. 16 and 17, combined with Chattanooga's John Houk carding a double-bogey on the par-3, 15th and former Buccaneer Samuel Espinosa-Trueba posting a bogey on the par-4, 16th, moved ETSU back to the top of the leaderboard at 30-under.
Dodd-Berry and Ege both finished tied for first at 13-under-par 203 en route to earning co-medalist honors. This is the first time since 1964 the SoCon has had multiple individual champions when Bill Etherdige (The Citadel) and Charles Collett (George Washington) accomplished the feat.
Ege has made it back-to-back SoCon titles for his fifth career win, while Dodd-Berry – who finished runner-up to Ege last season – captured his first collegiate victory. Ege is the first player to win back-to-back titles since Western Carolina's and current PGA Tour member J.T. Poston did so from 2014-15. This marks the first time a SoCon school has had five straight individual winners since Duke won eight straight from 1936-42, 1947 (the tournament was not contested from 1943-46). Overall, the Bucs have now had 20 individual SoCon winners – the most in conference history.
Dodd-Berry, the first-round leader, quickly jumped back to the top of the leaderboard after his outstanding start of six straight birdies. From there, the reigning SoCon Freshman of the Year registered seven straight pars before posting back-to-back bogeys on No. 14 and No. 15. Dodd-Berry finished with three straight pars to total the 4-under 68.
Like Dodd-Berry, Ege started strong as he was three-under through seven but gave a shot back ono the par-4, 435-yard No. 9. Following a par on the par-5, No. 10, Ege recorded a double-bogey on the par-4, No. 11 before bouncing back with a birdie on the par-4, 381-yard No. 12. Ege hit some turbulence on No. 14 and No. 15 as he registered consecutive bogeys but regrouped with back-to-back birdies on No. 16 and No. 17 to move into a tie for first as well as propel the Bucs back ahead of Chattanooga.
Ege and Dodd-Berry combined for 36 birdies over the 54-holes with Ege leading the field with 19. Dodd-Berry paced the field in par-4 scoring at eight-under, while Ege was right behind in second at five-under. Ege also tied for the lead in par-5 scoring at nine-under.
Algot Kleen made a move on Tuesday as he carded his lowest score of the tournament – a 4-under 68 – to finish tied for 10th at 1-under-par 215. Kleen was four-under on the front nine and six-under through his first 11 holes before giving a couple shots back down the stretch.
Remi Chartier finished tied for 12th at even-par 216, while
Jenson Forrester – who gave the Bucs a countable score at 1-over 73 in the final round – finished tied for 15th at 2-over-par 218.
Remi Chartier earned the Pinnacle Award as the student-athlete on the championship-winning team with the highest cumulative GPA.
The Bucs will learn their destination for the NCAA Regionals on Wednesday, May 1 during a live broadcast on Golf Channel at 2 p.m.
For more information on Buccaneer men's golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's golf page.
