Liberty Wins 2018 Big South Men's Golf Championship
NINETY SIX, S.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) -- No. 1 seed Liberty finished with a team aggregate 12-under par 276 to distance itself from the field and win the 2018 Big South Men’s Golf Championship by 19 strokes over defending champion Campbell Sunday at The Patriot Golf Club at Grand Harbor (par 72, 7,120 yards) to earn the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals. Individually, High Point’s Brendan MacDougall finished with a 5-under 67 Sunday and captured Medalist honors with a 13-under par 203 (73-63-67).
MacDougall is the first High Point Panther to be crowned the Big South’s individual champion, and he finished with the second-lowest 54-hole score in Championship history. After entering the day with a one stroke lead, MacDougall led by as much as eight shots Sunday and reached 14-under with five holes remaining. His bogey on the par-3 17th hole was his first in 41 holes, but still finished with the second-lowest round of the day, and earns an automatic at-large berth into the NCAA Regionals with his victory.
Liberty, which tied the Championship team round record of 15-under on Saturday to hold a four-shot advantage entering Sunday’s final round, continued its torrid pace and extended its lead to double-digit strokes early in the day. Senior Mickey DeMorat (66) and freshman Alexandre Fuchs (67) were the Flames’ top performers on Sunday, as each tallied seven birdies to lead the winning effort.
Campbell made a charge with a 2-under 286 to move up one spot into second, and was within eight shots of the Flames at one point. High Point, behind MacDougall’s play and Alec Weary’s even-par 72, jumped two places and finished third at 876 -- tied for the Panthers’ highest finish in the Big South Championship. Charleston Southern fell from second-place to fourth after shooting a 301 on Sunday. CSU’s and 18-hole leader Jacques Wilson finished fourth on the final individual leaderboard with a 6-under 210 (67-70-73).
First round team leader Gardner-Webb ended the 54-hole event fifth at 880, followed by Radford in sixth (887) and Longwood in seventh (895). Winthrop and Presbyterian College tied for eighth at 912.
MacDougall, DeMorat, Fuchs, Wilson and Weary each earned spots on the All-Championship Team.
Liberty will now await its NCAA Regional assignment at one of six locations in the nation, which will be contested May 14-16.