Ninety-Six, S.C. – In its first ever 2009 Big South Men's Golf Championship, the Bulldogs made a strong first impression, taking third-place overall with a team score of 926, +62.

Gardner-Webb was led by Immu Korvenmaa, as the junior carded a low round 77, +5, on Wednesday to finish the tournament in tenth-place overall with a three-round combined score of 229, +13.

Sophomore Scott Wheeler, who was named to the All-Conference Academic Team earlier this week, carded rounds of 76, 77 and 78 over the three-day event to finish tied for 12th-place overall with a combined score of 231, +15.

Two Bulldogs finished in a four-way tie for 20th-place individually, as freshman Kristopher Gray and Andrew Rickard both carded combined scores of 235, +19, over the three-day event.

Senior Blake Palmer wrapped up his four-year Bulldog career on Wednesday afternoon, finishing the tournament with a combined three-day score of 236, +20, placing him in a tie at 24th-place overall.

The Bulldogs, who entered Wednesday's final round of play in second-place overall, struggled on day three as a team, shooting a team score of 319, +31, its highest round of the tournament.

Coastal Carolina won the event with a score of 891, +27, thus earning the Big South's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

Liberty carded a team score of 310, +22, on day three to pass the Bulldogs and take second-place overall with a three-round combined team score of 922, +58. Winthrop finished in fourth-place, only one stroke back of Gardner-Webb, with a score of 927, +63, while Radford rounded out the top-five with a score of 928, +64.

With the Bulldogs third-place finish on Wednesday, Gardner-Webb completed the 2008-09 season with four top-five team finishes as well as defeating Appalachian State in the University Cup for the third consecutive year.

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