ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Lincoln Memorial’s George Durkan was selected as the 2024 South Atlantic Conference Men’s Golfer of the Year, while his head coach Brad Robinson was named the league’s Coach of the Year. Tusculum’s Morgan Cain earned SAC Freshman of the Year as voted on by the men’s golf head coaches, the SAC office announced today.
Durkan enters the South Atlantic Conference Championship ranked No. 4 in the region and No. 22 in the nation with a 70.4 adjusted scoring average. A junior from Much Hadham, England, Durkan started the year with a second-place finish at the UNG Mizuno Intercollegiate. In a three-tournament stretch, Durkan took home third, fourth and fifth place finishes in the month of March with fields of at least 90 golfers. He has five top-10 finishes and four top-5 finishes to his ledger this season.
Robinson earns his first SAC Coach of the Year honor and had the Railsplitters ranked as high as No. 2 on the season. Robinson has climbed the ranks at LMU, starting as a graduate assistant and then earning promotions to assistant and then head men’s golf coach. In his second season at the helm, Robinson held LMU to three team championships on the season, including finishing first out of 20 teams at the Tennessee River Rumble. The Railsplitters also have a pair of second place finishes as a team and one third place finish under Robinson this year.
Cain, a native of Cork, Ireland, posted a stroke average of 72.88 which is the lowest ever by a Tusculum University rookie. In his nine events, he has recorded five top-10 finishes, including three times in the top five. He finished runner-up in his collegiate debut at the King Invitational where he shot a four-under par total 136. HE also finished runner-up at the Ralph Hargett Memorial as he posted a nine-under 207.
Not surprisingly, Lincoln Memorial led the way in All-Conference selections with a four players earning All-SAC honors. Joining Durkan on the First Team All-Conference are teammates Alex James and Max Reynolds. Lenoir-Rhyne’s Sean Finan and Limestone’s Kristoffer Larsson also earned spots on the first team.
The 2024 South Atlantic Conference Men’s Golf Championship will run from Sunday, April 21 through Tuesday, April 23 at the Orangeburg Country Club in Orangeburg, S.C. . Tee times will begin at 8:30 a.m. all three days with 18 holes being played each day. Live results for all three rounds can be found online at https://birdiefire.com/
2024 SAC Men’s Golf All-Conference
First Team
George Durkan, Lincoln Memorial
Sean Finan, Lenoir-Rhyne
Alex James, Lincoln Memorial
Kristoffer Larsson, Limestone
Max Reynolds, Lincoln Memorial
Second Team
Morgan Cain, Tusculum
Colin Dutton, Wingate
Jonathan Hallinger, Coker
Jordan Hyland, Wingate
Loic Naas, Lincoln Memorial
Third Team
Tom Hull, Newberry
Samuel Mace, Lenoir-Rhyne
Killian Ryan, Coker
Ian Taggart, Lincoln Memorial
Caleb Tidd, Coker
Men’s Golfer of the Year
George Durkan, Lincoln Memorial
Men’s Golf Freshman of the Year
Morgan Cain, Tusculum
Men’s Golf Coach of the Year
Brad Robinson, Lincoln Memorial