Campbell Wins 2019 Big South Men's Golf Championship
NINETY SIX, S.C. – After winning the stroke play portion by 32 shots, top-seeded and 42nd-ranked Campbell rolled to its second Big South Conference men's golf title in three years without losing a contest in match play.
Campbell blanked Winthrop 3-0 Saturday morning to complete a match started Friday, then downed third-seeded Gardner-Webb 3-0 Saturday afternoon to earn the Big South's automatic berth in the NCAA regionals.
The Camels won their school-record fifth tournament title of the season and will make a fourth-straight appearance in the NCAA regionals May 13-15.
After 34 years of deciding the Big South men's golf title with a 54-hole tournament, the 2019 champion was determined by two rounds of match play after stroke play.
Campbell, which led in all five singles matches in both the morning and afternoon when the team outcome was decided, broke the school's Division I era of four tournament crowns in a year that was originally set in 1992-93 and matched in 2006-07.
Match semifinals began Friday morning, but play was halted by thunderstorms at 11:30 a.m. After a three-hour delay, proceedings were postponed until Saturday at 8:00 a.m.
On Saturday morning, Brett McLamb gave the Camels an early lead with a 4 and 2 win over Winthrop's Sawyer Mills. Pontus Nyholm defeated Ryan Tattan 3 and 2, while Big South stroke play champ Jesper Svensson defeated Zak Butt 4 and 3 for the deciding point. Max Theodorakis also finished his match with Noah Peterson 2 up. Ray Kraivixien led Winthrop's Michael McKee 3 and 4 when play was stopped.
Gardner-Webb edged second seed USC Upstate 3-2 in the second semifinal Saturday morning when Steffen Smith won his match on the 18th hole.
In the final, Campbell led GWU in all five matches at the turn and none went the distance. McLamb defeated Zack Byers 3 and 2 for the first point, followed closely by Nyholm, who earned a 4 and 2 decision over Jake Scruggs. Theodorakis provided the winning margin with a 3 and 2 victory over Patrick Wu, just moments before Kraivixien defeated Andy Yang 4 and 3. Svensson was one up on Smith with three holes remaining when play was stopped.