Spartanburg, S.C. – Atop the leaderboard much of Tuesday's final round at The Johnson Group Carolina Cup, Western Carolina sophomore Jace Butcher ran into a little trouble closing what could have been his first collegiate victory, but had nothing to hang his head about as the Kennesaw, Ga., product posted a career-best finish in a two-way tie for fourth.
 
Butcher and a resurgent Callum Waugh led the Catamounts to their first podium finish of the season in a tie for second place at the par-72, 6,929-yard Carolina Country Club.
 
Ben Jordan of Wofford shared individual medalist honors with Winthrop's Ashton Eubanks to guide the Terriers to the team championship with a three-day score of 875, holding off both the Catamounts and Oakland University in a two-way tie for second place with matching scores of 878. Jordan climbed two spots to take a share of first while Eubanks shot 2-under-par 70 to rally three positions into trophy position with identical scores of 215. Winthrop's Jeff Nelson climbed four positions in the final round to claim the third podium spot, one stroke in arrears at 216.
 
Wofford held its lead from Monday's second round with Oakland catching the Catamounts by shooting three-strokes better on the final 18 holes, 285-to-288. Despite the biggest gainers among the Top 10 on Tuesday, Winthrop was unable to climb any higher in finishing fourth with a three-round score of 883, while Charleston Southern threw out the spinnaker to sail three spots up the finishing order to round out the top five at 914.
 
Rounding out the field was Tennessee Tech in sixth at 918, with North Carolina A&T (921) and tournament host USC Upstate (925) rounding out the field.
 
A stroke under par through 15 of his final 18 holes on Tuesday, Butcher closed his round by carding bogey, bogey, double-bogey to be relegated to 3-over par 75 for the day and slipped both two strokes off the pace and the individual podium. He hit the clubhouse after shooting 4-over par on the final trio of layouts after having carded 1-over and 2-under par the first two rounds of the event.
 
One of two big gainers in Tuesday's final round as junior transfer Callum Waugh. The Glasgow, Scotland, native advanced 14 positions after carding the team's lone round in the 60s with a 1-under par 69. Charting a pair of birdies aside, the lone blemish for Waugh came on the par-3 eighth where he bogeyed for the third-straight day to turn for home at 1-under. He posted seven pars and two additional birdies to match Butcher with 11 for the event in climbing to his WCU-best eighth-place showing.
 
Canadian-born senior Kiefer Bulau took the prize for biggest advancement over the final 18 holes, vaulting 15 spots to come home in a four-way tie for 13th, his best career 54-hole finish. His three-round score of 7-over par 223 matched his career-low carded as a sophomore in 2022-23 at the Sea Palms Invitational. Following a turbulent day for the scorecard on Monday, Bulau calmy countered three bogeys with four birdies to make his move. All told, he collected a team-best 13 birdies over the three days of competition.
 
Bulau was joined in the baker's dozen spot by freshman Chase Cline, up a pair of spots into the 13th-place tie with a total of 223. The Chapin, S.C., product finished the event with a 2-over par 73 on Tuesday, closing his performance with six birdies and the lone eagle for the scoring five.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five was junior Ivan Ninkovic in 27th overall with a three-day score of 227. He matched Sunday's first-round score with 75 on Tuesday. Ninkovic posted four birdies on Sunday, two on Saturday, and three over the final 18 holes.
 
Among WCU's unattached individual competitors, sophomore Dalton Payne led the way despite sliding 17 positions on Tuesday after a final-round score of 80 that relegated him to 225. He was joined by classmate Andrew Korytoski in a tie for 32nd at 230, followed by Michael Bevins who rose eight spots into a tie for 39th. The Fort Myers, Fla., posted four of his eight birdies over the final 18 holes.
 
Rounding WCU's competitors was redshirt junior Josh Lendach who finished tied for 48th overall, charting eight combined birdies.
 
Western Carolina men's golf is set to close out the fall portion of its 2024-25 schedule in 10 days in split-squad action with the scoring five venturing to the Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville, S.C. for 54 holes over two days, Oct. 19-20 at the Furman University Golf Course in Greenville, S.C. The four remaining individuals are slated to compete in the App State Individual tournament held at the Cedar Rock Golf Course in Lenoir, N.C.
 
CatamountSports.com will note any schedule changes to conclude the fall based on the path of Hurricane Helene and any subsequent damage to participating schools and the host venue.
 
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).
 
T2 – Western Carolina – 295 – 295 – 288 = 878 (+14)
T4 – Jace Butcher - 72-70-75 = 217 (+1)
8 – Callum Waugh - 78-73-69 = 220 (+4)
T13 – Chase Cline - 75-75-73 = 223 (+7)
T13 – Kiefer Bulau– 73-79-71 = 223 (+7)
T27  –  Ivan Ninkovic - 75-77-75 = 227 (+11)
T21 –  Dalton Payne (ind.) – 75-70-80 = 225 (+9)
T32 – Andrew Korytoski (ind.) – 74-78-78 = 230 (+14)
T39 – Michael Bevins  (ind.) – 78-81-74 = 233 (+17)
T48 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 77-79-82 = 238 (+22)