St. Simons Island, Ga. – Heavy rains in coastal Georgia on Saturday chased the 128 golfers from the course and ultimately shortened the 54-hole Peoples Golf Championship at Sea Palms Resort to just 36 holes with Western Carolina finishing tied for fifth in the fourth installment of the tournament.
 
WCU's Pablo Hernandez and individual competitor Keifer Bulau both finished in a team-best fifth-place tie with two-round scores of 2-under par 140, with Ivan Ninkovic in a tie for 12th a stroke back at 1-under par 141.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five were fifth-year senior Magnus Pedersen in a tie for 37th at 3-over par 145 with freshmen Andrew Korytoski (t-75th, 151) and Jace Butcher (153) tied for 93rd.
 
In addition to Bulau, WCU's individual competitors included freshman Michael Bevins in a tie for 46th at 4-over par 146, with Josh Lendach (t-60th, 148) and Dalton Payne (t-112th, 158).
 
Second-round leader Davidson repeated as the tournament champion in the shortened event after extending its opening-round lead by 13 strokes on Friday, besting runner-up Drexel 547-to-560. Xavier fired an even-par 568 to finish third with Wright State (569) finishing fourth, a stroke ahead of the fifth-place tie between Western Carolina and Belmont at 2-over par 570.
 
Wright State's Shane Ochs was awarded medalist honors with a two-round score of 9-under par 133, besting the Davidson duo of Joshua Stewart and Will Davis in a tie for second-place at 8-under par 134.
 
Western Carolina men's golf returns to action on Monday, March 18, at the General Jim Hackler Championship, hosted by Coastal Carolina at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Pawleys Island, S.C. The 54-hole event features three days of competition with a round per day.
 
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).
 
T5 – Western Carolina – 280 – 290 = 570 (+2)
T9 – Pablo Hernandez – 72 – 68 = 140 (-2)
T12 – Ivan Ninkovic – 69 – 72 = 141 (-1)
T37 – Magnus Pedersen – 68 – 77 = 145 (+3)
T75 – Andrew Korytoski – 78 – 73 = 151 (+9)
T93 – Jace Butcher – 71 – 82 = 153 (+11)
T9 – Kiefer Bulau (ind.) – 71 – 69 = 140 (-2)
T46 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 71 = 75 = 146 (+4)
T60 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 75 – 73 = 148 (+6)
T112 – Dalton Payne (ind.) – 74 – 84 = 158 (+16)