Greenville, S.C. – Western Carolina men's golf closed the fall portion of its 2023-24 schedule with an eighth-place finish Tuesday at the 53rd annual Furman Intercollegiate, hosted by the Southern Conference rival at the par-71, 7,005-yard Furman University Golf Course. The Catamounts battled through a final-round 298 to card a three-round team score of 869.
 
Fifth-year senior Magnus Pedersen paced the Catamount scoring five in a three-way tie for 24th overall with a 54-hole score of 2-over par, 215. The Moss, Norway, product followed his consecutive rounds of even-par 71 with a 2-over par final round 73. Opening on the par-4 seventh, Pedersen bogeyed three of his first five holes to stand at 3-over par. A trio of birdies over his next 11 holes left him poised for a third-straight round of 71, but he bogeyed the par-3 fourth and par-4 fifth for the first time in the event to be relegated to 2-over par 73.
 
Sophomore Ivan Ninkovic slipped eight spots into a five-way tie for 27th after play on Tuesday, capping his tournament with a 4-over par round of 75. The Pula, Croatia, native cared three birdies in the final round, but was saddled with three double-bogeys and one bogey to conclude his tournament. Ninkovic finished tied for fourth in par-3 scoring at 1-under par (2.92) and posted a team-best 38 pars over the 54-hole tournament.
 
Freshman Andrew Korytoski slid nine positions into a five-way tie for 45th with a two-day total of 220 while senior Pablo Hernandez climbed six spots into a tie for 64th at 224. Rounding out WCU's scoring five was freshman Jace Butcher who dropped into 84th with a 54-hole score of 230.
 
Korytoski collected his eighth birdie of the event as a part of a final-round, 5-over par 76. Hernandez battled back from 2-over par through 10 holes to return to even-par with three holes to play before a costly triple-bogey on the par-4 seventh left him at 3-over par. Butcher shot bogey on eight holes with a double-bogey on the par-4 10th to go along with nine pars.
 
WCU's Pedersen and Hernandez both finished with a team-best nine birdies with Ninkovic and Korytoski just behind with eight apiece.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, redshirt sophomore Josh Lendach bumped up one spot in the final order to place in a two-way tie for 75th with a score of 227. He finished with six combined birdies, carding two in each round in Greenville.
 
Chattanooga swept the individual podium on Tuesday with Paul Conroy edging a pair of teammates in second and third. Conroy finished with a three-round total of 205, a stroke ahead of Samuel Espinosa-Trueba (206) and two ahead of Mocs teammate John Houk (207).
 
Despite sweeping the top three finishing positions, the 21st-ranked Mocs came up a stroke short of rallying past the tournament host as Furman claimed the team championship at its home tournament by a stroke, 832-to-833, over Chattanooga. No. 26 Texas A&M finished third with a 54-hole score of 842, with James Madison and Richmond tying for fourth at 859 to round out the Top Five.
 
Tuesday's eighth-place finish concludes the fall portion of WCU's schedule that saw the Catamounts record three Top 10 finishes including a pair of Top Five showings, twice finishing on the podium with both a second and third-place finish. WCU opens a six-event spring semester in mid-February as the Purple & Gold return to Laredo, Texas, for the Border Olympics for a second-consecutive season after finishing tied for 14th in its first trip to the event.
 
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8 – Western Carolina – 290 – 281 – 298 = 869
T24 – Magnus Pedersen – 71-71-73 = 215 (+2)
T27 – Ivan Ninkovic – 72-69-75 = 216 (+3)
T45 – Andrew Korytoski – 75-69-76 = 220 (+7)
T64 – Pablo Hernandez – 72-78-74 = 224 (+11)
84 – Jace Butcher – 77-72-81 = 230 (+17)
T75 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 76-75-76 = 227 (+14)