Sapphire, N.C. – Western Carolina men's golf slid four spots over Tuesday's final round of the 2023 JT Poston Invitational hosted at the par-71, 7,007-yard Country Club of Sapphire Valley as the Catamounts came home in 11th place at their home tournament. Sophomore transfer Ivan Ninkovic paced WCU's scoring five in a tie for 16th overall while redshirt sophomore Josh Lendach carded the best final-round tally for the host institution.
 
The Catamounts finished with a final-round 296 for a three-round score of 863, a stroke in arrears of 10th-place Appalachian State.
 
Opening on the par-4 fourth, Ninkovic birdied two of his first three holes to sit at 2-under par with 15 holes to play. Three bogeys on his final seven holes relegated him to 2-over. Overall, the Pula, Croatia, native countered six bogeys on Tuesday with four birdies for a 2-over par 73 and a three-round score of 210.
 
Fifth-year senior Magnus Pedersen overcame a bogey and two double-bogeys with five birdies to fire an even-par round of 71 to remain steady in a tie for 20th place. The Moss, Norway, product posted two of his birdies among his final three holes in his final appearance in the Poston Invitational. Pedersen finished with a team-best 12 birdies.
 
Rounding out WCU's lineup was redshirt senior Pablo Hernandez (219) in a tie for 59th, freshman Jace Butcher (224) in a tie for 86th, and junior Kiefer Bulau (236) in 99th. Hernandez birdied his first hole on Tuesday and added a second birdie on the par-5 14th to move to 1-under for the round. However, he was unable to overcome a quadruple bogey on the 15th, finishing with a 6-over par 77. Hernandez posted 10 birdies over the 54-hole event. Butcher fell four spots after countering seven bogeys with a trio of pars in a final-round 75, while Bulau notched his fourth birdie of the tournament in a final-round 85.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, WCU's biggest mover of the final round was redshirt sophomore Josh Lendach. The Raleigh, N.C. product climbed 13 positions to finish tied for 73rd with a final-round, 1-under par 70. Lendach overcame a bogey on his first hole of the day – the par-4 18th – with 13 pars and a trio of birdies to give him 10 for the event.
 
Freshman Dalton Payne couldn't find the same magic from his opening-round 67 as he fired a 75 on Tuesday to finish tied for 30th at 214, while classmate Andrew Korytoski finished tied for 42nd overall with a three-round tally of 217. Korytoski charted a team-best 38 pars, the fifth-most among the 100-golfer field and Payne carded 11 birdies, one off Pedersen's team-high for the event.
 
In his collegiate debut, freshman Michael Bevins finished tied for 88th with a final-round 77. The Fort Myers, Fla., native was poised at 1-over par with two holes remaining. However, carding triple and double-bogey on his final two holes relegated him to the 6-over par round. Bevins tallied nine birdies in his first action of the season.
 
All told, WCU carded a trio of eagles at its home event with Ninkovic, Pedersen, and Payne each accomplishing the feat.
 

 
Rallying from seventh after the opening round, Drexel led the 16-team field after 36 holes. On Tuesday, the Dragons capped their first-ever appearance in WCU's home event by doubling their lead over the runner-up, besting second-place Elon by six strokes, 839-to-845.  The Phoenix was Tuesday's big gainer, vaulting seven spots in the standings to come home second.
 
Georgia Southern, the 2018 and 2019 winner of the event, advanced two positions while Radford climbed three to finish tied for third at 846, while Augusta slipped one slot to finish the two-day event in fifth at 849.
 
Playing unattached as one of just three individuals representing Southern Conference-member ETSU, Remi Chartier blistered the Sapphire course in becoming just the second golfer in the 17-year history of the event to break 200. Chartier bookended his tournament with scores of 65 and shot 69 in the second to match the tournament record-low 54-hole score of 199 established by Ryan Hall of South Carolina back in 2019.
 
Using a tournament-best 18 combined birdies, Chartier won by five strokes over runner-up Carson Bellish of Xavier, 199-to-204, with Elon's Juan Callejo blasting up the individual leaderboard on Tuesday on the strength of this year's tournament-low round of 7-under par 64. Callejo was the biggest gainer of the day, rebounding 30 spots to finish in a three-way tie for third with Georgia Southern's Luke Koenig and Calahan Keever from Clemson, one of three Tiger individuals who entered the field.
 
Western Carolina returns to action Oct. 1-3 in Madison, Wis., at the Badger Invitational, hosted by the University of Wisconsin at the University Ridge Golf Course. The 54-hole event will be contested over three days with 18 holes per day. The tournament is the first of three for the Catamounts in October.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men's golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountMGolf).
 
11 – Western Carolina – 280 – 287 – 296  = 863 (+11)
T16 – Ivan Ninkovic (3) – 67 – 70 – 73 = 210 (-3)
T20 – Magnus Pedersen (2) – 70 – 70 – 71 = 211 (-2)
T59 – Pablo Hernandez (1) – 69 – 73 – 77 = 219 (+6)
T86 – Jace Butcher (4) – 75 – 74 – 75 = 224 (+11)
99 – Kiefer Bulau (5) – 74 – 77 – 85 = 236 (+23)
T30 – Dalton Payne (ind.) – 67 – 72 – 75 = 214 (+1)
T42 – Andrew Korytoski (ind.) – 73 – 71 – 73 = 217 (+4)
T73 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 75 – 76 – 70 = 221 (+8)
T88 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 70 – 78 – 77 = 225 (+12)