USC Aiken Men Ranked #3

NCAA Men's: Division II Teams 
Division I - Division III
                                   Adjusted   Avg.            Rank 
                        Division   Scoring   Drop   Versus#   of  
   Team                  *Record   Average  Score   Top 25   Sced  Wins@
  1 West Florida, U. of   192-  1    72.75   78.20    11- 1   187     2
 2 Sonoma State U.       191-  2    71.89   76.62     5- 1   247     2
 3 South Carolina-Aiken  190-  3    74.38   80.96     9- 2   172     0
 4 St. Edward's U.       190-  3    74.07   79.32    15- 0   307     3
 5 Florida Southern Col  189-  4    73.39   78.05    10- 1   166     2
 6 Nova Southeastern U.  187-  6    73.53   77.89    14- 4   195     1
 7 Valdosta St. U.       187-  6    73.34   78.47    11- 6   190     1
 8 Western Washington U  186-  7    73.12   79.03     9- 3   214     0
 9 CSU-Stanislaus        186-  7    72.88   77.96     5- 3   243     1
10 Georgia Coll & St. U  183- 10    73.81   78.34     8- 6   186     1 

Hootie event continues to grow

By BOB GILLESPIE - bgillespie@thestate.com

Dean Felber, bassist for Hootie & the Blowfish, still remembers the phone call that got the band into the college golf business.

“Puggy (Blackmon, South Carolina’s then-coach and now director of golf) was talking about us doing an event,” Felber, a golf addict along with band members Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan and Jim Sonefeld, said this week. “We were knocked out that we could do that.”

The result, The Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate, returns March 23-25 for its fourth year at the Mike Strantz-designed Bulls Bay course in Awendaw, near Mount Pleasant. The 15-team field has seven of the nation’s top 25, including defending champion Wake Forest (No. 19), No. 10 Florida, No. 11 Duke and No. 13 Auburn.

No. 21 USC, No. 15 Clemson and the College of Charleston are local favorites.

“The Hootie” kicks off with a player-am tournament Saturday and a dinner concert by the band that night. The event has raised $150,000 for the Hootie Foundation, which supports S.C. junior golf.

“It keeps growing bigger,” Felber said. “It’s as much fun or more to watch as a pro event, especially when you’ve got a team (USC) to root for.”

Admission is free. Call (843) 881-2223.

Rawls Creek opens. Last weekend’s debut was delayed 24 hours by bad weather, but the Club at Rawls Creek (ne Coldstream, 2121 Lake Murray Blvd.) is open for member and public play.

“We had so many people join at the last minute (161 members, topping a goal of 150), we had to borrow extra carts,” manager Chuck Baer said of Saturday’s opener. “We had to cancel an outing on Friday, but still had 100-plus for a members party that night.”

The course, which has 10 holes available (the final eight are scheduled to be ready in September), has been highly anticipated. Despite wet conditions and some wind damage, Baer said 150 rounds were played as of mid-week.

Response to the $750,000 restoration project has been good, Baer said. “Everyone recognizes you don’t go from being idle for two years to playing like Augusta National,” he said. “I wish we were further along, but we can’t do anything until the weather breaks.

“One comment inspired me,” Baer said. “A member on the first tee said, ‘I don’t care what condition it’s in; I’m just glad to be out here with my friends again.’”

Mike Butler is Rawls Creek’s professional. Call (803) 781-0114.

Chip shots. Columbia brothers David and Robert Dargan shot 65-68 to finish second in the S.C. Golf Association’s Partners Championship at Spring Valley CC, a shot behind Taylors’ Ken Carter and Stephen Kirven. Blythewood’s Eddie Hargett and Surfside Beach’s Sammy Truett tied Columbia’s Jarrett Grimes and Chris Mitchell for third. ... Four former Ryder Cup players — Jim Furyk, Scott Verplank, Chris DiMarco and Vaughn Taylor — and former Clemson players Jonathan Byrd, Charles Warren, Lucas Glover and D.J. Trahan have committed to the Verizon Heritage, April 17-20 at Hilton Head’s Harbour Town Links. ... Ten S.C. courses, led by Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course (No. 20, modern/1960-present), were named to Golfweek’s Best in America, which selects 100 classic (pre-1960) and 100 modern layouts a www.golfweek.com ... Greenwood’s Jimmy Self shot 78, then won the boys title in a three-way playoff in the S.C. Junior Golf Association Pee Wee Championship. Jessica Hoang of North Augusta (78) won the girls division.

Upcoming. Columbia Long Drive Contest and Super Expo/Demo Day, April 5, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Par Tee Driving Range, West Columbia. Call (803) 732-9311. ... Hurricane Junior Tour’s Oak Hills Open, April 19-20. Call (813) 355-4554 or go to www.hjgt.org.

Reach senior writer Bob Gillespie at (803) 771-8304.

Clyde Johnston to Renovate Fort Mill Golf Course

Clyde Johnston has done renovation work on vintage Donald Ross- and George Cobb-designed golf courses before. But at Fort Mill Golf Course the golf course architect will get the chance to enhance the handiwork of both designers at a single facility.

Located in the upstate South Carolina in Fort Mill, the layout began with nine Ross-designed holes. A second nine was added in 1959 by Cobb, another golf architectural icon. Johnston's task is to bring all 18 holes up to modern agronomic and playability standards while preserving the charm and elegance of the course built over a half-century ago.

The work involves renovating the tee and green complexes. All the bunkers on the course will be rebuilt, with several on the front nine being repositioned or eliminated to match the drawings from Ross's original design.

The greens at Fort Mill will be converted from bentgrass to the heartier and more heat-tolerant MiniVerde, an ultradwarf Bermuda that retains the smooth and quick putting characteristics of bent.

Johnston's renovation of the par-72, 6826-yard Fort Mill Golf Course is expected to last eight months and cost $2 million. Construction will be handled by Landscapes Unlimited, widely regarded as one of the top golf course builders in America.

Fort Mill GC is owned and managed by Leroy Springs & Company, Inc., which has three other courses in the area, including Springfield Golf Club, a course Johnston designed in 2001.

CofC Men’s Golf 10th at Seminole Intercollegiate

Harrison Moore shot a 68 in the third round to finish tied for ninth and lead the College of Charleston men’s golf team to 10^th after 54 holes of the Seminole Intercollegiate held Mar. 2-3 at Golden Eagle Country Club in Tallahassee, Fla. Host Florida State won the event, shooting a six-under par 858. Charleston finished with an 894.

Following Moore, who finished with an even-par 216, was Soonam Kim, who shot a 223 to finish tied for 34^th. Scott Larkin tied for 49^th with a 228 and in 58^th was Tim Tang with his 232. Rounding out the Cougar effort was Dannie McCollum, who shot a 236 to tie for 62^nd.

Charleston next competes at the Callaway Golf Invitational held Mar. 10-11 at The Farms Golf Club in San Diego, Calif.

Team Results

1 Florida State 285-288-285=858

2 Auburn 286-287-289=862

3 Virginia 286-286-294=866

4 North Carolina 290-287-290=867

T5 Louisville 291-294-288=873

T5 Vanderbilt 300-292-281=873

T5 UAB 291-296-286=873

8 Mississippi 285-293-304=882

9 Louisiana State 293-299-297=889

10 Charleston 298-306-290=894

11 Maryland 291-301-307=899

12 Mississippi St. 294-302-304=900

Cougar Results

T9 Harrison Moore 74-74-68=216

T34 Soonam Kim 74-78-71=223

T49 Scott Larkin 73-79-76=228

58 Tim Tang 77-75-80=232

62 Dennis McCollum 78-83-75=236

Anderson Women's Golf Team In Fourth Place

VASS, N.C. -- The Anderson University women's golf team is in fourth place after the first round of the St. Andrews Presbyterian Spring Invitational Monday at the Woodlake Resort and Golf Club.

Anderson, led by Sophie Dembroski's 80, shot a 346 in the first round.

Pfeiffer leads the 11-team tournament with a 327. St. Leo's is second at 334, and Newberry is third at 337.

Pfeiffer's Brittany Beltran leads the individual standings with a 73. For Anderson, Dembroski is in fifth place and Kim Hausman, who shot 83, is in seventh place.

Anderson's other two scores were Hayley Parks 90 and Liz Belanger 93.

The second round will be played Tuesday morning.

A-SUN TEAMS SHINE

MACON, Ga. - The A-Sun continues to post stellar performances on the course. A-Sun teams experienced great success this past week, as four teams took home team and individual tournament victories while another notched an individual win and a second place team finish.

For the women, Belmont and Campbell recorded tournament victories as well as individual honors. On the men's side, USC Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast accomplished the same feat, while Stetson crowned an individual champion and placed second.

The Belmont women finished the Jacksonville Spring Invitational with a 36-hole team score of 617 to win their third team title in the program's history. Junior Lorie Warren broke her own school record for lowest 36-hole score (143) when she put together a 141 on her way to winning the tournament's individual title, the fourth individual victory of her career.

The Campbell women claimed victory at the rain-shortened Fighting Camel Spring Classic on Tuesday. The course was deemed unplayable due to wet conditions on Tuesday, resulting in Monday's final team score 301 becoming the final. Leading the way for the Camels was senior Maite Ortiz de Pinedo and sophomore Belen Diaz Cisneros, who tied with Elon's Samantha Widmer for the individual crown, as each shot a 74. The team victory is Campbell's first of the season.

The USC Upstate men dominated the competition at the BSC Classic on Tuesday, as they distanced themselves from the nearest competitor by 34 strokes to take the team title with a final three-round score of 902. Tyler Tucker tallied a final score 224 to win the tournament's individual title. The team win is the second for the Spartans this season, and Tucker's individual honor is the third for the squad this season.

Four Florida Gulf Coast Golfers turned in top ten performances at the 2008 Bethune-Cookman Spring Invitational last Saturday and Sunday as the Eagles earned their first team victory of the season. Florida Gulf Coast compiled a team score of 568 over the 36-hole tournament, beating out conference foe Stetson by three strokes. Kyle Hammond was the top performer for the Eagles, shooting a 139 and tying Stetson's Dave McAndrew as the tournament's individual champion. McAndrew and and Hammond traded scores from Saturday to Sunday, as McAndrew opened with a 67 and closed with a 72 and Hammond did just the opposite.