St. Simons Island, Ga. – Western Carolina sophomore Jace Butcher posted his second individual top 10 finish of the season on Saturday, pacing the Catamount scoring five in a tie for sixth place with a three-day score of 4-under par 209 as play concluded at The Peoples Championship at the Sea Palms Resort. WCU advanced two spots in the final team order to come home tied for 13th with a 54-hole score of 871.
 
After a relatively quiet 36 holes with just one bogey, Butcher had to work for his final-round score of even-par 71 on Saturday. Opening on the back nine in the afternoon wave, the Kennesaw, Ga., product moved to 1-under through three holes before carding bogeys on three of his final four holes to make the turn for home at 2-over par. Butcher closed the round with three birdies to counter one additional bogey to finish even for the day.
 
Butcher's season-low three-day score of 209 marks the second-best 54-hole score of his career, just one stroke back of his career-best 208 (72-67-69) shot at the Phoenix Invitational as a freshman.
 
Freshman Chase Cline matched his career-low round for the third time this season with a team-low 2-under par 69 on Saturday to climb 33 positions in the final standings into a tie for 54th overall. The Chapin, S.C., product overcame a pair of bogeys on the back nine with a trio of birdies to make the turn to the front at 1-under par. He was relegated back to even with a bogey on the par-4 second but closed his final three holes with back-to-back birdies on the seventh and eighth to finish at 2-under par for a three-round score of 220.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five was Callum Waugh in a tie for 77th at 224, posting his best tournament round of 1-over par 72 over the final 18 holes to move up 18 spots. Ivan Ninkovic shot 74 to advance 10 places in the final standings into a tie for 85th (226), with Dalton Payne shooting 231 in a tie for 108th overall.
 
Sophomore Michael Bevins led the WCU quartet playing unattached as individuals, advancing 11 spots into a tie for 49th with a three-day score of 219 (74-73-72). Bevins shot even on the front nine with nine pars and countered two bogeys on the back with his sixth birdie of the event. Senior Kiefer Bulau climbed 19 spots into a tie for 68th with a final-round even-par 71 with six birdies over the final 18 holes. Josh Lendach finished tied for 92nd with a three-round score of 227, while Andrew Korytoski was tied for 98th at 228.
 
UNC Greensboro led all three rounds to cruise to the team championship by 16 strokes over two-time defending champion Davidson, which made a run on the last day to climb back into contention in the runner-up position. UNCG fired a three-day score of 831 – the third-best team score in tournament history – with Davidson carding the sixth-best team score in second place at 847 thanks to a 7-under par team round on Saturday, matching its opening round on Thursday.
 
Drexel advanced up the leaderboard to finish third at even-par 852, with Villanova (855) and Xavier (857) rounding out the top five teams. Three teams closed to within a stroke of fifth as Francis Marion, Richmond, and 2022 team champion Wright State each finish tied for sixth at 858.
 
All told, fifth through 10th were clear by just nine strokes in the highly competitive 20-team field.
 
Drexel's Drue Nicholas advanced four spots on Saturday with a 5-under par round of 66 to shoot 201 for the tournament in winning the individual medalist honors. Nicholas posted the third-lowest individual 54-hole score in event history, just one stroke in arrears of the tournament records (200) carded back in 2023.
 
Tied for the second-round lead, UNCG's Jake Lewis slipped back into a two-way tie for the runner-up spot as Davidson's Joshua Stewart vaulted eight spots to the podium from a 10th-place tie after 36 holes, shooting 6-under par 65 over the final 18 holes. Stewart's 65 tied for the fifth-lowest single round in the tournament's five-year history.
 
Western Carolina men's golf returns to action in a week as the Catamounts travel to the South Carolina Lowcountry for the Hootie at the Bulls tournament, hosted by the College of Charleston at the Bulls Bay Golf Club. The three-day, 54-hole tournament runs Sunday, March 23, through Tuesday, March 25, and is one of just two events prior to the 2025 SoCon Men's Golf Championship April 20-22.
 
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).
 
T13 – Western Carolina – 291 – 294 – 286 = 871 (+19)
T6 – Jace Butcher – 68-70-71 = 209 (-4)
T54 – Chase Cline – 78-73-69 = 220 (+7)
T77 – Callum Waugh – 77-75-72 = 224 (+11)
T85 – Ivan Ninkovic – 72-80-74 = 226 (+13)
T108 – Dalton Payne – 74-76-81 = 231 (+18)
T49 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 74-73-72 = 219 (+6)
T68 – Kiefer Bulau (ind.) – 74-77-71 = 222 (+9)
T92 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 75-72-80 = 227 (+14)
T98 – Andrew Korytoski (ind.) – 76-78-74 = 228 (+15)