Gardner-Webb University
Big South Championship
Runnin' Bulldogs Take Third At 2017 Big South Conference Men's Golf Championship
April 22, 2017 | Men's Golf
@GWUGolf | Final Results (GolfStat)
NINETY SIX, S.C. – Gardner-Webb finished third at the 2017 Big South Conference Men's Golf Championship, which wrapped up with a busy, 36-hole Saturday on the Championship Course at The Patriot Grand Harbor.
It marked the highest finish for the Runnin' Bulldogs at the league's postseason event since taking second place in 2011 – also at the Patriot Grand Harbor. Gardner-Webb fired a 285 in the second round and a 292 in its final 18 holes Saturday to finish at 5-under for the event (859).
GWU was 14 strokes behind second-place Liberty in the final team standings. Campbell won the event with a 26-under par tournament, beating the top-seeded Flames by seven strokes.
Saturday's second round was pushed up to an 8:30 shotgun start due to expected bad weather in the area on Sunday. The third and final round went off at 2:30 pm, also with a shotgun start.
Gardner-Webb saw all five of its golfers finish inside the top-25, joining Campbell and Liberty as the lone teams to accomplish that feat through 54 holes.
Senior Vincent Blanchette (69-68-77-214) and junior Aaron Thomas (70-71-73-214) finished in a tie for seventh individually.
Blanchette started the day on fire, going 4-under par through eight holes. He birdied the first, the third and the fourth to spark his early surge and – after three consecutive pars – birdied the eighth. A bogey on the ninth slowed momentum, but Blanchette still went into the turn with a 33.
He posted par on the first five holes on the back nine, before a bogey on the par three 15th hole. He closed the round with consecutive birdies, sinking a putt on the par three 17th and doing so again to birdie the 18th. Blanchette's round of 68 was his best of the tournament.
The veteran started the final round with a birdie on the first hole, but a quadruple bogey on the 373-yard third hole (Par 4) hampered things. He recovered with a birdie on the fifth, but closed with a 39 on the front nine – and shot a 38 on the back to finish at 77 for the round.
Blanchette sat under par for his 54-hole tournament (-2), however, posting 13 birdies over three rounds.
Thomas shot a second-round score of 71, carding four birdies over his first 18 holes of the day. A double bogey on the fourth and a bogey on the 11th were his only blemishes, as he moved two spots up the individual standings.
Thomas also had four birdies over his final 18 holes of the tournament, with two on the front nine and two more on the back. He sank a long putt to birdie the ninth and also birdied the fifth, 15th and 18th holes to finish with a 73 (+1).
Freshmen Steffen Smith (72-74-71-217) was the biggest mover for Gardner-Webb Saturday, bolting 11 spots higher by day's end. After shooting a 74 in the second round, Smith started the final round on hole No. 5 – and posted two birdies over his first eight holes played to begin his surge.
A pair of bogeys slowed his rise, but birdies on the 18th hole and the third hole allowed Smith to finish his round under par (71) and move into a tie for 13th by the end of the tournament.
Chris Jones (72-73-72-217) also moved up into a tie for 13th Saturday, rising six spots in the final round. The senior from Charlotte, N.C., carded four birdies in the round to finish at even par for the second time in three rounds.
Jonathan Henry (71-73-76-220) finished the tournament alone in 22nd position individually after shooting a 73 in the second round and a 76 over the final 18 holes. Henry combined for seven birdies over the final 36 holes.
