Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina men's golf concludes a week in Georgia as the Catamounts tee off at the Southern Intercollegiate, hosted by the University of Georgia at the par-72, 6,917-yard Athens Country Club in Athens, Ga., on Monday.
With inclement weather forecast across the East Coast on Monday, tournament officials have moved the shotgun start to 9 a.m. Live scoring of the one-day, 36-hole event is available online through
the Scoreboard app, powered by Clippd.
In addition to the 34th-ranked and host Bulldogs and the Catamounts, the 16-team field includes golfers from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Binghamton, Charleston Southern, Chicago State, Detroit Mercy, Georgia State, Manhattan, UMES, Mercer, Mount St. Mary's, North Carolina A&T, Radford, Tennessee State, and West Georgia.
WCU is paired in foursomes with golfers from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Chicago State, and Tennessee State between holes No. 15 and 18.
Coming off its runner-up finish at The Peoples Championship at Sea Palms Resort, WCU will have six golfers in competition on Monday, with a scoring five and one unattached individual competitor. WCU makes its first appearance at the Southern Intercollegiate for the first time since April 2019.
Guiding the Catamounts into Monday's two-round event is the Southern Conference's top golfer,
Tyler Jones. The transfer from Jacksonville, N.C., paces the league with a 69.57 seasonal stroke average, the best among the 65 to have carded rounds in the SoCon this season. Jones, who ranks 143rd in the latest NCAA men's golf ratings, has five podium finishes this year, including three-straight after a third-place showing at The Peoples Golf Championship.
Jones is flanked by junior
Jace Butcher, who is coming off a seventh-place tie in St. Simons Island, Ga., and enters the week ranked 10th in the conference at 72.33. Senior
Ivan Ninkovic carries a 71.67 scoring average over 21 rounds into Athens, seeded third for the Catamounts, with freshman
Connor Williams (75.61, 39th) and junior
Andrew Korytoski (74.24, 27th) rounding out the scoring lineup.
Redshirt senior
Josh Lendach will compete for medalist honors as an unattached individual on Monday. The Raleigh, N.C., product ranks 25th in the SoCon with a 74.06 seasonal stroke average.
Following Monday's 36 holes, the Catamounts close the month with a trip west to the AK-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Course in Maricopa, Ariz., for the Cowboy Classic, hosted by the University of Wyoming. The Catamounts have three events remaining ahead of the 2026 SoCon Men's Golf Championship, April 27-29, at the Solina Golf Course in West Columbia, S.C.
