LENOIR CITY, TN – The Coker men's golf team finished tied for seventh Tuesday in the Tennessee River Rumble after playing for almost seven hours in the rain with 19 other schools. The 24th-ranked Cobras, who started the final round tied for fifth, rose as high as fourth through nine holes on the rain-soaked WindRiver Golf Club, but were unable to close fast (as they had in
the first two rounds) because of heavy rain and wind. "We absolutely played great on our finishing holes for the first 36 holes --- and were looking forward to doing it again to gain a high finish in a great field of teams – but it was raining sideways for the final hour-plus, so everyone was just trying to survive," Coker head coach John Hackney said. "The course was underwater for much of the day, but the greens never puddled up, so we kept playing. There was a lot at stake since it's late in the season and most of the field
was from the Southeast Region. Kudos to all the players for gutting it out in some terrible weather."
Host Lincoln Memorial, ranked No. 2 nationally among NCAA DII schools, rallied to win the team title by one shot over No. 1 North Georgia. LMU shot 11-over in Tuesday's rain and finished
even par for the event. North Georgia shot 15-over (same as the Cobras) and was 1-over for 54 holes. Union (+9), Wingate (+13), No. 6 USC Aiken (+14), and Anderson (+16) took spots 3-6. Coker and
No. 17 Barton tied for seventh at +19, one shot clear of No. 9 Lander. Lenoir-Rhyne, Carson-Newman, and No. 3 Grand Valley State tied for 10th at 24-over par. No team broke par in the tough conditions Tuesday and 1-under was the lowest individual round. Jack Vajda of North Georgia was medalist at -4, carding rounds of 72-67-73. The Cobras made a season-high 48 birdies over the three rounds, but some of that was offset by eight double bogeys and four triple bogeys. In round two, the Cobras had no score over par as they fired a 6-under 282. Coker's total was 298-282-303—883. "This was a topsy-turvy event for us," Hackney said. "We started out terribly on some tough holes in the cold on Monday morning and found ourselves in last place for about four hours. But, we remained patient and the guys made a ton of birdies down the stretch, then kept it going in round two. Tuesday was a real test for everyone in tough conditions, but we were still able to beat some really good teams. If you take away a few bad holes, we played well enough on the rest of the course to finish in the top four. Our guys can make birdies; we just need to limit our bad holes." Coker super senior Killian Ryan (72-69-76) and senior Caleb Tidd (71-72-74) tied for 17th of 100 golfers at 217 (+1). Seniors Jonathan Hallinger (79-70-75—224) and Aaron Teece (76-73-
78—227) placed 44th and 56th, respectively, and junior Derek McGlauglin took 59th at 79-71-78—228).
The Cobras are off for Easter and return to play April 8-9 in the Argonaut Invitational at the Pensacola Country Club in Florida.