Meronk, Pugh and Hickman post top-10 finishes

BRASELTON, Ga. (April 22, 2014) – The ETSU men’s golf team needed to make up 11 shots in the final round of the Atlantic Sun Championship, but despite posting the lowest score on Tuesday, the Bucs were unable to gain any ground on the leaders.

The Bucs carded a 4-over-par 297 in the final round at The Legends Golf Club and finished in third-place at 20-over-par 884 (299-293-292) for the championship. In the end, ETSU finished 10 shots back of team champion Mercer and four shots behind runner-up Kennesaw State.

The 33rd-ranked Bears captured their first-ever A-Sun title by registering a three-round score of 10-over-par 874 (290-291-293) and held off the 40th-ranked Owls by six strokes.

ETSU was led by the strong play of Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland), Chris Hickman (Centreville, Md.), and Rhys Pugh (Pontypridd, Wales) as the Buccaneer trio finished in the top-10. Meronk (73-73-73) and Pugh (76-72-71) tied for fifth at 3-over-par 219, while Hickman tied for seventh at 4-over 220 (77-71-72). Pugh, last season’s runner-up, fired a 1-under 71 on Tuesday and Hickman totaled three birdies and three bogeys for an even-par 72.

Mercer swept the team and individual titles as Trey Rule was the lone golfer to end the three-day tournament under-par. Rule won the tournament at 1-under-par 215 (71-73-71), which was three strokes better than teammate James Beale and Kennesaw State’s Teremoana Beaucousin and Austin Vick.

Rounding out the scoring for the Blue and Gold was freshman Mateusz Gradecki (Oborniki Śląskie, Poland) as he tied for 22nd at 13-over-par 229 (76-77-76). Sophomore Gudmundur Kristjansson (Reykjavik, Iceland), who led the Bucs on day one, tied for 29th at 16-over (74-80-78).

Mercer earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regional, which will be played May 15-17.

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