Hathaway Goes Low as Flyers Prevail at Storm Invitational
Freshman Adam Hathaway earned medalist honors as the Sandhills Community College men's golf team finished in first place at the Davidson-Davie CC Storm Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.
Hathaway posted scores of 69-77-146 on Winding Creek Golf Course in Thomasville. The runner-ups were Austin Smith of Surry CC, 72-77-149 and the Flyers' Carson Witherspoon, 74-75-149.
Fourth and fifth place individually went to the Flyers' Andreas Huber, 73-78-151 and Nick Agapion, 75-77-152.
Also for Coach Gus Ulrich's squad, Dakota Oman finished in ninth place, 83-75-158, David Langley was 10th, 79-80-159 and Andrew Crawford finished 12th, 84-81-165.
Five colleges and 19 golfers competed at the tournament, but only Sandhills, 291-304-595 and Davidson-Davie, 312-325-637, competed as teams.
The opening round three-under par 69 by Hathaway, a J.H. Rose High School grad, was the best competitive round of his golf career. It included an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys.
"I hit the ball better than I have been and I made a bunch of putts," he said upon his return to Sandhills later on Tuesday. "I just didn't make as many putts today."
Looking ahead to the national tournament on June 7-11 in Chautauqua, N.Y., the performances by Hathaway and Witherspoon in the last two events have been encouraging to Ulrich.
"It was really huge for Adam to play well this week," the coach said. "It's good to know we have four guys capable of shooting under par."
Next on the schedule is an intriguing Ryder Cup-style match on April 12-14 at Pinewild Country Club against a Georgia Military College team that came from behind to win the 2019 national title by one stroke over the Flyers.
Agapion, and Austin Quillian of Georgia Military, both competed in that event.
"Everybody is excited about playing a competitive match against a team that is probably going to be our biggest competitor at the national tournament," Ulrich said.
C. Bergmann