Ben Carr rolled in a birdie putt on 18 to lift Georgia Southern (GS) to a one-shot victory over South Alabama on the final day of stroke play at the Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship.
The top-four teams advance to match play today, and the Eagles (-3) will be the top seed and play Troy (+6), the fourth seed. South Alabama (-2) will be the second seed and take on third-seeded Louisiana (+6).
Lineups for both semifinal matches will be turned it at 7:30 a.m., and the matches are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.
The Eagles and Trojans will tee off on the first hole, and the Jags and Ragin' Cajuns will tee off the 10th hole. Live coverage on ESPN+ begins at 10 a.m. The winners meet in the championship match in the afternoon.
The weather forecast looks a bit iffy in Madison, and if inclement weather wipes away match play, the stroke-play winner will be declared the conference champion. If inclement weather cancels the morning session of match play, then the top two seeds will attempt to play in the afternoon in the championship match.
The stroke-play win is GS's fourth team tournament victory of the season, and the Eagles have now advanced to match play at the Sun Belt Championship in each of the last six championships.
GS also won stroke play at the Sun Belt Championship in 2015 (stroke play only), 2019 and 2021 and tied for first in 2022.
South Alabama's Hugo Thyr (-8) shot a 66 on Wednesday to win medalist honors, and Coastal Carolina's Seth Taylor (-7) carded a 70 to finish second, one shot back. Mason Williams (-5) led the Eagles with a 70 and took third, and Carr (-2) finished with a 73 to place sixth.
Brantley Baker shot a 71 on Wednesday, Wilson Andress posted a 74 and Parker Claxton finished with a 75. Claxton tied for 15th, Baker tied for 19th and Andress tied for 25th on the individual leader board. The Eagles led the tournament in par-three scoring at two-over-par and in birdies with 51.
Carr owns a 4-1-0 career record in match play at the Sun Belt Championship, while Williams is 1-1-2 and Andress is 1-1-0. Baker is 0-1-0, and this will be Claxton's first appearance. Hogan Ingram, the Eagles' super sub for the week, is 1-1-0.
Team scores include:
- Team – 293-280-288=861 (-3), 1
- Mason Williams – 73-68-70=211 (-5), 3
- Ben Carr – 70-71-73=214 (-2), 6
- Parker Claxton – 74-70-75=219 (+3), T15
- Brantley Baker – 76-73-71=220 (+4), T19
- Wilson Andress – 77-71-74=222 (+6), T25
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