CSU men win PBC championship

The Columbus State men’s golf team won its first Peach Belt Conference championship in nine years on Sunday.

The Cougars, who started the day eight shots ahead of Flagler, shot an 8-over 296 in the final round to finish at 9-over 873.

That was two shots better than host Flagler, which shot a 2-over 290 Sunday to finish at 875.

USC Aiken finished third at 892.

The tournament was held at the Slammer & Squire course at the World Golf Village.

“I am obviously very proud of the boys and their accomplishment today,” CSU Director of Golf Mark Immelman said. “It is very hard to play with the lead, as they did for three days straight.

“I thought it was very meaningful that Robert Mize helped lead us to the title today, given that he has been our leading player for a long time now.

The match came down to the final two players. Through the first four players for each team, CSU’s lead had been trimmed to one shot.

But TaeHyung Kim finished with a 2-over 74, while Flagler’s Sebastian Barnoya shot a 75.

Robert Mize led CSU with a 1-under 71. He moved up six spots to finish ninth at 5-over 221.

He got off to a hot start, making five birdies on the front side.

Kim finished in a tie for second at 1-under 215.

Gideon van der Vyver shot a 75 and finished eighth at 4-over 220.

Yannick Gumowski and Duncan van der Vyver both shot 76 Sunday and finished tied for 11th at 7-over 223.

CSU will now head to the NCAA Division II regionals.

“The cool thing is that we still have things we can tighten up before we head into the NCAA Regional,” Immelman said. “Here’s to a couple days’ rest and then some time spent at the drawing board.”

Lander’s Michael Pospisil won medalist honors at 2-under 214 after a 70 Sunday.

CSU won one other event this season, the Aflac/Cougar Invitational in September. Since then, the Cougars had only one top-five finish.

Van der Vyver made the All-PBC first team. Gumowski and Kim made the second team.

In the women’s tournament, CSU finished last in seventh at 1,012 after shooting a 339 on Sunday.

Armstrong State won with a 927, seven ahead of Flagler.

Sarah Grace Drop led CSU by finishing in a tie for 24th at 251 after an 83 Sunday.

CSU’s other players were Bailey Hockgertle (tie-28th, 85-252), Shelby Banta (t-32, 87-258), Hannah Holland (t-32, 84-258) and Jordan Booker (t-34, 94-261).

This story was originally published April 17, 2016 at 7:37 PM with the headline "CSU men win PBC championship."