ACWORTH, Ga. — The St. Andrews University men’s golf team set a new school record as it clinched an automatic bid to Nationals. The Knights shot a second-round 282 in the AAC Direct National Qualifier at Governor’s Towne Club earlier this week to finish in second place behind AAC Men’s Golf Champion Point University (Ga.). St. Andrews finished just one stroke behind Point shooting a 885 overall.
St. Andrews’ junior Joe Hurn finished with a 3-under-par 213 to be crowned the individual champion. Hurn will represent the AAC individually at the NAIA National Championships on May 16 at TPC Deere Run in Moline, Ill.— since he is not on the winning team. Hurn shot a round one 72 before a second round 71 and third round 70 him into the lead The Knights junior was also named to the all-tournament team.
The Knights struggled in the first round fighting the rain to shoot a 308, which put them in fifth place overall. St. Andrews school-record 282 in the second round vaulted them into second place, just a stroke back of Point. The Knights individual scores of 70 by Hurn; 71 by John Lyle; 75 from Alberto Firpi and a 79 from Dan Wieck and Carlo Stella was not quite enough to overtake Point.
St. Andrews’ seniors Carlo Stella and Daniel Wieck had two of the best second rounds in the tournament, each shooting a 3-under-par 69. Unfortunately, their other two rounds were not quite as low with Stella shooting a 78 in round one and a 79 in the third round to tie for 17th place. Wieck made second team all-conference second team shooting 79 in both of his other rounds to finish in 19th place.
Sophomore Alberto Firpi played well improving by six shots from his first to second round. Firpi started the tournament shooting a 79 before dropping that to a 73 in the second round. The sophomore finished the tournament with a third round 75 to place 19th along with teammate Wieck. Firpi also led the team and the field with two eagles while Stella and Hurn tied for 5th with 10 birdies each. Hurn also made 35 pars as well.
Senior John Lyle improved drastically from round to round going from a first round of 82 to a second round of 77. Lyle finished the tournament with a third round 71 to launch him into 26th place overall.
The Knights managed to put four of their five starters in the top 20 of the tournament. The top five teams all finished within seven shots of the lead after the final round of the tournament.