Parker Claxton fired a 68, all four counters finished under par and Georgia Southern men's golf shot a 10-under-par 278 in the final round of the NCAA Salem Regional Wednesday at the Cliffs at Keowee Falls.
The Eagles (-28) tied for seventh with San Diego State, a stroke back of Clemson (-29) and Texas A&M, which tied for fifth. The Aggies topped the regional host Tigers in a team playoff to become the fifth team to advance to the NCAA Finals.
Georgia Tech (-53) shot 21-under today to surge to the regional win, and Arkansas (-45) finished second, two strokes ahead of North Carolina (-43). New Mexico (-42) shot 17-under today to finish fourth.
Sparked by a 63 in the first round, Ryan Burnett (-13) of North Carolina led wire to wire to take medalist honors by two strokes over Sam Lape of Furman. Lape carded 64 today to advance to the NCAA Finals as an individual.
Fifth-year seniors Ben Carr, Mason Williams and Wilson Andress all shot 70 today, and Brantley Baker posted an even-par 72. Andress tied for 14th, and Claxton tied for 27th. The Eagles' three-round team total of 836 was two strokes off their best score at an NCAA Regional, set in 2019 at Stanford and equaled last season at Yale.
The Eagles started on the back 9 for the third straight day, and Claxton made birdie on four of his final five holes on the side. The freshman played the front side clean with birdies on 3 and 6.
Andress birdied the last three holes on the back, and his approach on 6 left him a tap-in birdie. Williams eagled the 546-yard, par-5 18th and made three birdies on the front.
Carr played his final 13 holes 4-under and rolled in birdies on four of five holes in the middle of his round. Baker birdied his first three holes of the day to shoot 1-under on the back 9.
Scores
Team – 279-279-278=836 (-28), T7
Wilson Andress – 69-68-70=205 (-9), T14
Parker Claxton – 72-71-68=211 (-5), T27
Mason Williams – 71-71-70=212 (-4), T34
Ben Carr – 76-69-70=215 (-1), T48
Brantley Baker – 67-77-72=216 (E), T52
Quotables from Carter Collins
On the week
"This one will sting for a while - we wanted to get a chance to win a national championship in Arizona, not just for this team, but for everyone who supports this University back home in Statesboro and our families, friends and everybody. We came up short, but that's not a measurement of the effort and how hard they fought all week from beginning to end. I'm very proud of their effort and what they accomplished - they played some fantastic golf."
On the senior class
"The seniors have done so much for this program and Georgia Southern and for each other. They've done more for me than I ever could have for them. So my appreciation for them is unmeasurable, and I'm always going be there for them no matter what."
On the future of the program
"In the shadows has been a really good, young group of players who have played some fantastic golf all year, and credit to them for taking a back seat and staying silent in the background, but they played awesome. Tons of great golf from some very young players, the future at Georgia Southern is very bright."
Next Up
Georgia Southern sees its season come to a close. The Eagles return eight letterwinners to the 2023-24 roster, including Baker and Claxton, who played in the Salem Regional and the Sun Belt Championship, and Hogan Ingram, who was in the lineup for last season's Sun Belt Championship, NCAA Regional and NCAA Finals.
