West Columbia, S.C. – Junior Jace Butcher and redshirt sophomore Tyler Jones paced Western Carolina men's golf, both finishing in a four-way tie for fifth place in the final standings as the Catamounts slipped to sixth at the close of the 2026 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship at the par-71, 6,766-yard Solina Golf Club.
 
Even-par as a team through the front nine, WCU finished 7-over par down the stretch, which prevented the Catamounts from keeping pace over the final 18 holes, as the top four teams each posted red numbers on Wednesday.
 
No. 67 Chattanooga (847) finished the job Wednesday, winning its first SoCon men's golf title since 2013, outpacing hard-charging Furman (855) and Mercer (857) by eight strokes. The Mocs, who carded 15 birdies and two eagles on Wednesday, earned their seventh team SoCon championship all-time and the league's automatic berth to the 2026 NCAA Men's Golf Championship.
 
UNC Greensboro's Kelvin Hernandez fired a course-record 65 to win medalist honors at Solina Golf Club, guiding the Spartans to a fourth-place finish with a team score of 861. East Tennessee State (867) was fifth, a stroke ahead of the Catamounts (868). Wofford (879) and Samford (884) rounded out the final order.
 
WCU's final-round slide denied the Catamounts their ninth Top Five team finish of a very successful 2025-26 season.
 
Hernandez earned an individual bid to the NCAA Championship, edging Mercer's Henry Robards by a stroke in the final order, 204-205. Robards shot back-to-back rounds of 66, tying the previous course record, to pull into contention. UTC's Evan Rogers was three strokes off the pace in third place with a final tally of 207, while Furman's Harris Barth was fourth as the only other individual to break par for the event.
 
Butcher carded a team-best, final-round score of 1-under par 70 to climb five spots into the fifth-place tie at even-par 213. He countered a pair of bogeys with a pair of birdies on the front nine to make the turn even. After a bogey on the par-4 10th, Butcher charted a trio of birdies over his next seven holes to move to 2-under. However, he closed the event with a bogey on the par-4 18th for a third-straight day to finish at 1-under par, slipping from a fourth-place tie into the fifth-place gridlock.
 
Butcher was second on the WCU squad with 12 birdies over the 54-hole event. The Kennesaw, Ga., product finished in a fifth-place tie in par-3 scoring, shooting even-par on the shortest layouts, while also tying for the third-best par-5 scoring at 7-under (4.42) on the longest holes.
 
Tyler Jones continued to spin his tremendous transfer season, matching his opening-round score with a 1-over par 72 on Wednesday. The Jacksonville, N.C., native finished the three-day event at even-par (213), bookending the event with 72s with a 2-under 69 in Tuesday's middle round.
 
Jones had a pair of birdies against a bogey on the front nine. Bogeys on the par-3 12th and par-4 14th relegated him to 1-over par before his third birdie moved him back to even. Like Butcher, Jones struggled on his 54th hole with a bogey on No. 18 to leave him at 1-over for the day.
 
Jones led the Catamounts with 14 birdies and was tied for sixth in the tournament field in par-4 scoring at 1-over par (4.04).
 
Junior Andrew Korytoski rebounded on Wednesday to shoot even-par 71, advancing five spots into a tie for 21st overall at 7-over par, 220. Turning for home at 1-over par with three bogeys and two birdies, Korytoski sat at 2-over par after a fourth bogey on the par-4 10th. The Cataula, Ga., closed the tournament at 2-under par, carding six pars and a pair of birdies, giving him 11 for the event and the lone eagle for the Catamounts.
 
Rounding out the Catamount scoring five were senior Ivan Ninkovic in 29th overall at 223, and redshirt senior Josh Lendach in 38th overall with a score of 243. Even-par at the turn for home, Ninkovic battled through the back nine, beginning with a tough triple-bogey on No. 10 with four additional bogeys. Lendach carded his lone birdie of the final round on the par-5, 492-yard 15th with seven pars.
 
Ninkovic charted six birdies in his final appearance in the conference championship, while Lendach had three birdies in his second entry in the SoCon event. The two completed their final rounds for the Purple & Gold on Wednesday.
 
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2026 SoCon Men's Golf Championship
Final Results – Solina Golf Club – Par-71, 6,766 yards
1 – Chattanooga – 275-290-282 = 847 (-5)
2 – Furman – 285-291-279 = 855 (+3)
3 – Mercer – 288-290-279 = 857 (+5)
4 – UNCG – 289-290-282 = 861 (+9)
5 – ETSU – 282-299-286 = 867 (+15)
6 – Western Carolina – 280-297-291 = 868 (+16)
7 – Wofford – 294-292-293 = 879 (+27)
8 – Samford – 283-305-296 = 884 (+32)
 
3 – Western Carolina – 280 – 297 – 291 = 868 (+16)
T5 – Jace Butcher – 68-75-70 = 213 (E)
T5 – Tyler Jones – 72-69-72 = 213 (E)
T21 – Andrew Korytoski – 69-80-71 = 220 (+7)
29 – Ivan Ninkovic – 71-74-78 = 223 (+10)
38 – Josh Lendach – 80-79-84 = 243 (+30)