GREENSBORO, Ga. – The Furman (-8) men's golf team is in third place and has three players among the top 11 after Monday's second round of the 2023 Southern Conference Championship at par 72, 7,174 yard The Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga.
The 59th-ranked Paladins are solidly alone in third place, behind No. 33 East Tennessee State (-21) and No. 47 Chattanooga (-20), who are separated by just a stroke at the top of the leader board. The Paladins are eight strokes ahead of Mercer (E) and Western Carolina (E), who are tied for fourth place. Furman ranks second in the field with 36 birdies and is third with a 4.60 average on the par 5s.
Senior Sam Lape (-2) and sophomore Will Morlan (-2) each shot even par on Monday and enter Tuesday's final round tied for eighth. Lape eagled the par-5 No. 7 and birdied No. 17, while Morlan posted three birdies on the front and one on the back in round two. The Paladin duo is eight strokes back of leaders Paul Conroy (-10) of Chattanooga and Mats Ege (-10) of ETSU, who hold two-day totals of 134.
Senior Ross Funderburke (-1) carded a 1-over 73 in round two to tie for 11th. He tallied four birdies on the day, two on each side. Senior Walker Crosby (+3) and freshman Harris Barth (+3) are tied for 23rd with 18 holes to play. Crosby recorded a 74 with birdies on No. 7 and No. 10 on Monday, while Barth birdied No. 7 to finish with an 80.
The final round of the 54-hole tournament begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday with twosomes starting on No. 1 and No. 10. The Paladins will begin on hole No. 1 at 8:05 a.m. and will play in a group with Western Carolina in the tournament's third round.
The team winner of the SoCon Championship will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional, while the individual champion will also earn automatic regional qualification.
Live scoring of the tournament is available at https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=27718. Admission to the tournament is free to the public.
3 Furman 277 291 568 -8
T8 Will Morlan (1) 70 72 142 -2
T8 Sam Lape (3) 70 72 142 -2
T11 Ross Funderburke (2) 70 73 143 -1
T23 Harris Barth (4) 67 80 147 +3
T23 Walker Crosby (5) 73 74 147 +3
