ETSU finishes fourth at 15-under-par 849

AUGUSTA, Ga. (April 2, 2023) – Led by Mats Ege’s (Kristiansand, Norway) third straight top-10 finish, the ETSU men’s golf team completed play at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational on Sunday from Forest Hills Golf Club. 

Ege posted a 54-hole score of 6-under-par 210 (71-69-70) en route to finishing tied for eighth in the 78-player field. The Buccaneer leader, who now has six top-10 finishes this season, totaled 15 birdies and 31 pars over the weekend. 

Joining Ege with 15 birdies for the tournament was teammate Algot Kleen (Fiskebackskil, Sweden). Kleen finished in 14th-place at 5-under-par 211 (73-68-70). 

As a team, ETSU – who was coming off back-to-back tournament wins – finished fourth in a field that featured eight teams ranked in the top-50. The 38th-ranked Buccaneers finished at 15-under-par 849 (281-286-282) en route to beating No. 18 Oklahoma State (-14), No. 9 Texas (-13), No. 19 Georgia Southern (+4) and No. 47 Notre Dame (+19). 

Florida swept both the team and individual titles as the 12th-ranked Gators finished at 39-under-par 825 (276-274-275), and beat No. 6 Illinois by 12 shots and No. 22 Virginia by 15 strokes. Fred Biondi, the 94th-ranked player via Golfstat, earned medalist honors and received an exemption into the PGA Tour’s 2023 3M Open. Biondi finished with a 54-hole score of 15-under-par 201 (66-70-65), edging out Illinois’ Adrien Dumont de Chassart by two shots and Central Florida’s Luis Carrera by three strokes.

For the weekend, the Blue & Gold feasted on the par-5s as they played the holes at 32-under, marking the second-highest total among the 15-team field. The Bucs also registered 60 birdies – the third-most for the tournament. 

Freshman Matty Dodd-Berry (Wirral, England) finished tied for 31st (+1) and redshirt junior Remi Chartier (Montreal, Canada) placed tied for 40th (+4). 

The Bucs now gear up for the Southern Conference Championship, which gets underway on Sunday, April 23 at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga. ETSU has won the last two SoCon titles. 

For more information on Buccaneer men’s golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s golf page.