Nov. 4, 2008

2008 Hummingbird Intercollegiate Final Results

Sapphire, N.C. - Despite the heroics of Vanderbilt's Hudson Johnson on the tournament's final three holes, the University of Central Florida claimed the 2008 Hummingbird Intercollegiate team championship by a stroke (557-to-558) over the Commodores Tuesday evening at the par 71, 6,767-yard Country Club of Sapphire Valley.

The Golden Knights' two-stroke advantage after Monday's opening round held as Vanderbilt carded a tournament-low team round of 275 over the final 18 holes, establishing a single-round record. Vandy's round of 275 on Tuesday was three swings lower than the previous record of 278 shot by Western Carolina a season ago.

Akron (578) finished third in the event, with Southern Conference foes Elon (584) and WCU (587) rounding out the top five. Other SoCon finishers included Wofford and Samford tied for ninth, Furman tied for 11th and Appalachian State in 14th.

For WCU, the 587 turned in over the past two days ranks tied for 10th in the school's 36-hole record books.

Johnson, who entered the day tied for second after an opening round 68 on Monday, shot eagle with a hole-in-one on the par 3, 187-yard 16th before shooting par on the 17th. He birdied the 460-yard par 5, 18th to card 65 and win the individual medalist honors with a two-day total of 133. He edged out UCF's David Johnson (134) by a stroke, with the duo going toe-to-toe in the day's final pairing.

Brad Schneider of Central Florida finished third with rounds of 68 and 71 to conclude the event at three-under, 139, while teammate Simon Ward placed in a two-way tie for fourth with Vanderbilt's Tyler Matthews at two-under, 140, to round out the top five finishers.

Hudson Johnson's 65 was the lowest individual collegiate round ever carded at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley, one better than the 66 carded by WCU's Andres Cuenca and Dustin Furnari in last season's event. Also, Hudson's 133 and David Johnson's 134 both broke the year-old 36-hole tournament record of 135 held by Cuenca.

Defending tournament champion, Cuenca, led the Catamounts with a two-day total of two-over, 144. The senior from Fuengirola, Spain, incurred a two-stroke penalty during Tuesday's round which dropped him from the top 10 finishing order into a 12-way tie for 12th place.

Junior transfer Drew Miller chiseled two strokes off his opening round 74 to shoot a one-over, 72, on Tuesday, moving into a tie for 25th. Classmate Ricky Stout was consistent with consecutive rounds of 74 to shoot 148 and finished tied for 34th while also leading the tourney with 27 par scores.

Rounding out WCU's order were senior Dustin Furnari, who dropped three strokes off his opening round to shoot 149, tied for 40th, and freshman Kyle Wilson (t-80th, 162), who was making just his second collegiate tournament appearance.

The Catamounts' low round of the final day came from sophomore Caleb Marsh. Playing as an individual, the Strawberry Plains, Tenn., native finished his round with a three-under 68 to finish the tournament at 145, tied for 19th. He was also one of three individuals to post two Eagles during the 36-hole event.

Freshman Martin Summer, who shot a career-low 70 on Monday, finished tied for 34th at 148, while a trio of juniors rounded out WCU's individuals in Benjy Davey (t-49th, 152) - who tied his career-low round of 72 on Tuesday, Cody Walker (t-63rd, 153) and transfer Rylan Lanham (t-73rd, 156) in his first tournament for Western.

The event concludes the fall season for the Catamounts which saw three different golfers lead the team in scoring through the opening five events. Western Carolina will open its six-event spring season on March 2-3 at the Argonaut Invitational, hosted by West Florida at the Pensacola Country Club in Pensacola, Fla. The schedule will culminate with the SoCon Championships April 19-21 at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence.

1 UCF 281 276 - 557 -11
2 Vanderbilt Univ. 283 275 - 558 -10
3 Akron, U. of 293 285 - 578 +10
4 Elon University 296 288 - 584 +16
5 Western Carolina U. 294 293 - 587 +19
6 Gardner-Webb U. 299 289 - 588 +20
Francis Marion U. 299 289 - 588 +20
8 Radford University 295 296 - 591 +23
9 Wofford College 298 296 - 594 +26
Samford University 302 292 - 594 +26
11 Winthrop University 309 291 - 600 +32
Furman University 306 294 - 600 +32
13 High Point U. 299 302 - 601 +33
14 Appalachian State U. 306 303 - 609 +41