Longwood Wins 2023 Men's Golf Championship
NINETY SIX, S.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – One day after finishing tied for second in the stroke play portion of the Big South Men's Golf Championship, Longwood won the conference’s match play title Wednesday in thrilling fashion with a 3-2 victory over Charleston Southern to earn the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Regionals. The Lancers claimed their first Big South title since becoming league members in 2012-13, and will appear in the NCAAs for the first time since 2007.
The Bucs opened the final with a 2-0 lead on Theodor Takman's 4&3 victory in the opening match and David Amm's 4&2 triumph in the second match. In the fifth pairing, Justin Larue opened a three-hole lead over Ben Carroll after eight holes, and eventually increased his advantage to four before clinching a 4&3 win to cut the Lancers' deficit to 2-1. In match four, Nick Rakes held a multiple-hole lead and reached as high as 3UP before closing with a 2&1 win to even the match at 2-2.
Match three between Longwood's Daniel George and Charleston Southern's Griffin Tarver was already shaping up as the deciding match. After tying on the opening hole, George fell behind on hole two, and was facing a three-hole deficit with six holes to play. He won the next two holes to get within one after 14, and tied the match three holes later with a par on the par-3 17th. George won the par-5 18th hole with a birdie putt to seal the championship for the Lancers.
In the morning Semifinals, Longwood defeated No. 3 seed Winthrop, 3-2, as Larue's victory in 20 holes in the third match was the deciding result. Longwood held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before Winthrop tied the score in the second and fourth matches.
Charleston Southern reached its second Big South Match Play Final with a 3-0 victory over No. 1 Radford. Layne Lambert won the opening point in the fourth match, 5&4, with Takman earning a 19-hole win in match one. Carroll clinced the victory in match three with a 2&1 victory.
2023 Men’s Golf Match Play Results - Finals
#2 Longwood 3, #4 Charleston Southern 2
Order of finish:
M1: Theodor Takman (CSU) defeats Brendan Dunphy (LW), 4&3 (CSU leads 1-0)
M2: David Amm (CSU) defeats Scott Jordan (LW), 4&2 (CSU leads 2-0)
M5: Justin Larue (LW) defeats Ben Carroll (CSU), 4&3 (CSU leads 2-1)
M4: Nick Rakes (LW) defeats Layne Lambert (CSU), 2&1 (match tied 2-2)
M3: Daniel George (LW) defeats Griffin Tarver (CSU), 1 UP (LW wins 3-2)
2023 Men’s Golf Match Play Results - Semifinals
#4 Charleston Southern defeats #1 Radford, 3-0
Order of finish:
M4: Layne Lambert (CSU) def. Nathan Piatt (RAD), 5&4 (CSU leads 1-0)
M1: Theodor Takman (CSU) def. Bobby Dudeck (RAD), 19 holes (CSU leads 2-0)
M3: Ben Carroll (CSU) defeats Patrick Gareiss (RAD), 2&1 (CSU wins 3-0)
M2: Nick Taliaferro (RAD) vs. Griffin Tarver (CSU), unfinished (tied thru 17)
M5: Bryce Corbett (RAD) vs. David Amm (CSU), unfinished (Amm up 3 thru 15)
#2 Longwood 3 defeats #3 Winthrop, 3-2
Order of finish:
M1: Scott Jordan (LW) defeats Matthew Hutto (WU), 4&3 (LW leads 1-0)
M2: Willis Rogers (WU) defeats Brendan Dunphy (LW), 2&1 (match tied 1-1)
M5: Daniel George (LW) defeats Ian Faulconer (WU), 3&1 (LW leads 2-1)
M4: Charles Collings (WU) defeats Nick Rakes (LW), 1UP (match tied 2-2)
M3: Justin Larue (LW) defeats Nick Mayfield (WU), 20 holes (LW wins 3-2)