Cullowhee, N.C. – Catamount men's golf returns to action the first of the week, competing in a match-play tournament as Western Carolina travels to South Pittsburg, Tenn., for the Sweetens Cove Intercollegiate in the penultimate event of the spring on March 25-26.
Fielding lineups with six golfers aside, eight teams will compete in a bracket-style competition to crown an event champion after three rounds over two days. With an weather amended schedule, teams will hit the course in the quarterfinals Monday at 8:30 a.m. with the semifinals slated for later in the day at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday's final round includes winner's and consolation bracket championship play to provide the final event standings for all eight teams.
Live scoring from SmartGolf.com will be available through a link at CatamountSports.com.
The second-ranked team in the field at No. 154 in the latest NCAA rankings, Western Carolina is joined in the eight-team field by fellow Southern Conference foe Samford (No. 209). The Catamounts match up with Bowling Green (No. 226) in Monday's quarterfinal round while the Bulldogs meet Belmont (No. 166). Event host Miami (Ohio) boasts the best ranking among the eight teams at No. 137 and faces Murray State (No. 240), with High Point (No. 188) playing South Dakota State (No. 177) to round out the opening round match play.
Catamount men's golf team competes in match play for the first time since a head-to-head match against rival Appalachian State at the Mimosa Hills Golf Club in Morganton, N.C., back in late March 2013.
WCU and head coach
Tim Eckberg will employ the six-man lineup led by fifth-year senior
Magnus Pedersen and redshirt senior
Pablo Hernandez as the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds. Pedersen ranks seventh in the SoCon in seasonal stroke average at 71.13. Sophomore
Ivan Ninkovic, who led the Catamounts most recently at Coastal Carolina's General Hackler Championship, is seeded second for WCU.
A trio of freshmen comprise the remainder of the six-man team with
Jace Butcher,
Andrew Korytoski, and
Michael Bevins rounding out the Catamount side. All three last competed at the WCU-hosted Peoples Golf Championship at Sea Palms Resort in early March – Butcher and Korytoski as part of the scoring five and Bevins as one of four Catamount individuals in the rain-shortened event.
The Sweetens Cove Golf Club is a par-72, 6,602-yard nine-hole course in South Pittsburg, Tenn., 30 minutes west of Chattanooga, Tenn., just north of the Tennessee-Alabama state line along the banks of the Tennessee River. The course was featured in The New York Times and listed as the 49th-ranked modern course and the 21st-ranked best course you can play in the USA by Golfweek. In May 2019, Sweetens Cove Golf Club announced five new co-owner partners including Tom Nolan, international tennis star Andy Roddick, Rob Collins, Mark Rivers, former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, and Skip Bronson.
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).
