Spartanburg, S.C. – Western Carolina men's golf put three individuals inside the final top 10 on Tuesday to come home tied for second as a team at the Wofford Invitational held at the par-72, 6,648-yard Country Club of Spartanburg.
 
Sophomore Pierre Viallaneix led the Catamounts in third place with a three-round score of 5-under par 211, while freshman Presten Richardson posted a career-best fifth-place tie a stroke back at 4-under par 212. Sophomore Magnus Pedersen tallied his second top 10 finish of the season, placing in a tie for ninth with a score of 1-under par, 215.
 
Viallaneix made the turn for home on Tuesday at 1-over par, birdieing the first hole with a pair of bogeys on the front nine. Birdies on the par-3 14th and par-4 16th left him 1-under for the day had him poised to make a run at the top of the leaderboard. However, he closed the round with a bogey on the par-4 18th to finish even-par on the day and was relegated to the second runner-up position.
 
Richardson countered a pair of bogeys with two pars on the front nine before a double-bogey sent him to the back nine at 2-over par. Consecutive birdies on holes No. 14 and 15 moved him back to even before a third bogey on the 18th left him at 1-over, 73. Pedersen shot 2-over 74, countering four bogeys with a pair of birdies for the Catamounts.
 
Viallaneix and Richardson both carded 13 birdies over the 54-hole event to lead the Catamounts, tied for the sixth-most in the tournament field.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five were juniors Tumi Kúld in a tie for 42nd overall at 223, shooting 4-over par 76 on Tuesday, while classmate Louis Theys finished tied for 52nd after a final-round 1-over par 73. Kúld carded an eagle and two birdies on the final day of competition, with Theys countering four bogeys with a birdie – his ninth of the event – on his 53rd hole of play.
 
WCU finished with 52 total birdies over the 54-hole event, the fourth-most in the field, while its five eagles were tied for the most among the 15-team field. The Catamounts led the field by shooting +12 (3.20) on the par-3 layouts and were second in par-5, scoring at 4.48 (-31). Richardson paced the field in par-3, scoring at 2-under (2.83), just ahead of Viallaneix at 1-under (2.92). Pedersen was tied for second in par-5, scoring at 4.25 (-9), posting a tournament-high tying three eagles.
 
Georgia State cruised to a 12-stroke victory over the two-way tie for the runner-up spot between the Catamounts and tournament host, Wofford. The Panthers carded a three-round score of 17-under par 847 ahead of the tie at 859 between the SoCon foes. Francis Marion finished fourth at 866, with Charleston Southern in fifth overall with a score of 870.
 
SoCon foe Samford (882) rallied three spots to come home seventh, with Mercer placing tied for 12th at 891.
 
Wofford's Ryan Marter edged Maxence Mugnier from Georgia State by a stroke, 209-to-210, to claim individual medalist honors. Marter is the first Terriers golfer to win its home tournament that dates back to 1988. Viallaneix finished tied with Grant Sellers from Francis Marion in third place.
 
Western Carolina heads to the 2021 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship April 19-20 at the Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. The 54-hole tournament will be conducted over two days with an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Golf Championship awarded to the event winner.
 
T2 – Western Carolina – 276-289-294 = 859 (-5)
T3 – Pierre Viallaneix – 67-72-72 = 211 (-5)
T5 – Presten Richardson – 67-72-73 = 212 (-4)
T9 – Magnus Pedersen – 69-72-74 = 215 (-1)
T42 – Tumi Kúld – 73-74-76 = 223 (+7)
T52 – Louis Theys – 78-73-75 = 226 (+10)