Greensboro, Ga. – Paced by a pair of juniors among the individual leaders and on the strength of the best team round of the second day, Western Carolina men's golf climbed into a podium position on Monday after 36 holes at the 2025 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship.
 
Callum Waugh vaulted 15 spots into second place, and Ivan Ninkovic remains amidst a four-way tie for third to lead the Catamounts entering Tuesday's final round at the par-72, 7,393-yard Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
 
Counting the team's top four scores of the day, WCU's scoring five combined to log Monday's best team round at 279 – the second-best turned in by any squad over the first two days – to advance into third, just four strokes off the lead. The 279 was WCU's second-best 18-hole team score of the season, trailing only the 276 carded in the final round of the JT Poston Invitational.
 
First-round leader UNC Greensboro has company atop the leaderboard as ETSU erased its three-stroke deficit, and the two are tied for first with matching scores of 562. WCU sits third at 566, two strokes clear of its chromatic rival Furman in third place at 568 and Chattanooga (573) in fifth.
 
Samford moved up one spot to sixth with an even-par 288 second-round performance, bringing its tournament score to 1-over 589. Wofford is in seventh at 4-over 580, and Mercer rounds out the field with a tournament score of 5-over 581.
 
Final round action opens at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22, with tee times off both the front and back nine. The purple-clad pairing of WCU and Furman is scheduled to tee off at 8:05 a.m. on hole No. 1. Live scoring through the Scoreboard app, powered by Clippd, is available online at CatamountSports.com or through SoConSports.com.
 
One day after carding an opening-round, even-par 72 with four birdies, Callum Waugh had a tremendous second round, especially on the inward nine. A striker originally from Glasgow, Scotland, Waugh was even through six holes on Monday after a bogey on the par-4 fourth erased his opening-hole birdie on the No. 1 par-5. His round gained tremendous momentum on the par-5, 517-yard seventh as he carded an eagle, followed by a birdie on No. 8 to make the turn to the back nine at 3-under par.
 
Waugh charted his first of four birdies on the back nine on the par-5 10th with the lone blemish on his second nine coming with a bogey on the par-3 15th. He moved to 6-under for the day with back-to-back birdies on No. 16 and No. 17 to cap his best round as a Catamount.
 
Ninkovic again turned in a steady round on Monday by shooting 2-under par 70 for a two-day total of 139. The Pula, Croatia, native added three more birdies against one bogey while shooting par on 14 holes to cap his seemingly routine day. A birdie on the par-4, 382-yard fourth was the only mark on the front nine as he shot par on eight holes, including five-straight before making the turn. Consecutive birdies on No. 13 and No. 14 moved him to 3-under before the lone bogey on No. 15 left him at 2-under for the round.
 
Ninkovic enters the final round tied for second in the field with a team-best 27 pars over the first 36 holes.

Former teammates at Lindsey Wilson College before reconnecting at Western Carolina, the junior duo of Waugh and Ninkovic pace the Catamount scoring five. Waugh is pacing the field in par-5 scoring at 8-under (4.00), with Ninkovic among the top five in par-4 scoring (1-under, 3.95)
 
True freshman Chase Cline rebounded from a double-bogey on the opening hole of the day to back up his 1-under par opening round score with an even-par 72. Two-over after one hole, the Chapin, S.C., product quickly moved back to even with consecutive birdies on the par-4 third and fourth. Cline then posted eight straight pars that carried him well into the back nine where he ultimately countered a bogey with his third birdie to finish even.
 
Cline is tied with teammate Waugh for third with 10 total birdies in the tournament.
 
Sophomore Andrew Korytoski advanced six positions, while classmate Jace Butcher moved three spots in the second round into ties for 27th and 30th, respectively. Korytoski ranks tied for second in the field in par-3 scoring at 2-under par (2.75)
 
Korytoski had a tremendous front nine with six pars and three birdies to make the inward turn at 3-under par. On the back nine, the Cataula, Ga., product countered two bogeys with a pair of birdies to give him five on the day before a double-bogey on the par-4 16th relegated him to 1-under, 71. Butcher, too, had a nice opening nine holes with seven pars and a pair of birdies to turn for home at 2-under for the day.  Another Georgian out of Kennesaw, Butcher closed the day with three bogeys, a par, and a birdie for the even-par round of 72.
 
WCU's Waugh trails tournament leader Collin Dutton of UNCG by three strokes after both carded 6-under par 66 on Monday. Seven birdies fueled Dutton's second round to give him a tourney-best 12 as part of his score of 9-under par 135 with Waugh at 138. The quartet that is tied for fourth and includes Ninkovic also includes the ETSU pair of Yannick Malik and Gavin Tiernan, with Max Cranford of Wofford rounding out the second runner-up tie.
 
Four players from three different schools are tied for seventh at 3-under-par. ETSU's Kristian Bressum, Furman' Will Morlan and UNCG's Jake Lewis and Jack Marcotte hold that position.
 
Action continues with round two on Monday morning, beginning with tee times off both the front and back nine at 9 a.m. Live scoring through the Scoreboard app, powered by Clippd, is available online at CatamountSports.com or SoConSports.com.

 
2025 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship
Reynolds Lake Oconee – Greensboro, Ga. – Par 72, 7,231 yds
1 – UNCG – 277-285 = 562 (-14)
2 – ETSU – 280-282 = 562 (-14)
3 – Western Carolina – 287-279 = 566 (-10)
4 – Furman – 288-280 = 568 (-8)
5 – Chattanooga – 285-288 = 573 (-3)
6 – Samford – 289-288 = 577 (+1)
7 – Wofford – 297-283 = 580 (+4)
8 – Mercer – 288-293 = 581 (+5)

3 – Western Carolina – 287-279 = 566 (-10)
2 – Callum Waugh – 72-66 = 138 (-6)
T3 – Ivan Ninkovic – 69-70 = 139 (-5)
T15 – Chase Cline – 71-72 = 143 (-1)
T27 – Andrew Korytoski – 75-71 =146 (+2)
T30 – Jace Butcher – 75-72 = 147 (+3)