2012-13 Gardner-Webb Men's Golf Season Review
May 02, 2013 | Men's Golf
Boiling Springs, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb men's golf team posted a sixth-place team finish at the 2013 Big South Conference Men's Golf Championship to conclude the 2012-13 season, which was highlighted by both senior Daniel Kim and sophomore Matt Yelverton earning Big South Conference postseason accolades.
Kim made history for the Runnin' Bulldogs, as the senior from Toronto, Ontario, Canada was named to the Big South All-Conference Team for the fourth straight year. The four-year GWU golfer became one of only nine golfers in the history of the Big South Conference to earn All-Conference honors four times during their intercollegiate careers, a list that includes current PGA golfer Dustin Johnson.
Yelverton, who posted a top-10 finish at the 2013 Big South Men's Golf Championship, was named to the 2013 Big South Men's Golf All-Academic Team for his work in the classroom.
Overall, the sixth-place team finish at the 2013 Big South Men's Golf Championship wrapped up a year in which the Runnin' Bulldogs recorded five top-five team finishes including Championship wins at the Raines Development Group Intercollegiate in September and at the Keith Hills Invitational in April.
The Gardner-Webb men's golf team teed-off the 2012 fall season with a first-place team finish at the Raines Development Group Intercollegiate on September 10-11th, in which GWU's Kim and Yelverton both finished in a tie for first-place overall on the individual scoreboard.
After finishing in a tie at 10th-place overall at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate on September 15-16th and in 16th-place in the team standings at the Donald Ross Intercollegiate on October 15-16th, the Runnin' Bulldogs bounced back to post a second-place team finish at the GWU versus HPU Duals on October 20th.
The GWU golfers rounded out the fall slate with an 11th-place team finish at the Pinetree Intercollegiate on October 22-23rd and a fourth-place showing at the 2012 Hummingbird Intercollegiate on November 3-4th, which saw both Kim and redshirt-junior Daley Byles finish in a tie for second-place overall with a two-day combined score of 141, -1 under par.
The Runnin' Bulldogs started the 2013 spring season off with a ninth-place team finish at the Forest Hills Collegiate on February 23rd, then earned a third-place showing in the team standings at the Davidson College Invitational where the GWU was led by Steven Jones' third-place individual finish overall.
Following a seventh-place finish at the General Hackler Championship on March 11-12th and a nine-place finish at the 44th Annual Furman Intercollegiate on March 22-24th, Coach Tee Burton's squad took home the team championship at the 2013 Keith Hills Invitational on April 1-2nd with team rounds of 288, 286 and 284 and a final three-round combined score of 858, +6.
Gardner-Webb then carded a 10th-place finish at The Coca-Cola Invitational in Spartanburg, S.C. on April 15-16, before wrapping up the year with its sixth-place showing at the Big South Championship Tournament.
The Runnin' Bulldogs, who had four different golfers in Kim, Jones, Byles and Yelverton each pace Gardner-Webb in at least one tournament on the season, were led by Kim, as the senior was the top-GWU performer in eight of the 13 tournaments in which the Runnin' Bulldogs competed in on the season.
Kim also carded a team-low stroke average of 73.65 on the season, which was almost a whole two strokes ahead of the next GWU golfer in Yelverton with a stroke average of 75.03 and Byles and his stroke average of 75.94 on the season.
Gone will be seniors Kim, Jordan Duffy and Arron Price next season, however, the Runnin' Bulldogs will return a number of golfers with tournament experience in Byles, Jones and Yelverton, as well as freshmen Clement Kurniawan and Elki Kow, who all competed for the Runnin' Bulldogs in at least six events in 2012-13. Returners Caleb McFarland, Ben Payne, Nick Browning, Chris Jones and Joshua Wright will also add depth to a team that is talented from top to bottom and will look to improve on its sixth-place conference tournament finish this season.
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