GREENWOOD — Newberry used a final-round 291, matching its second-round score from Monday to maintain second position on the leaderboard at the Bearcat Golf Classic in a field of 18 teams.
The Wolves have now finished first or second in four of their seven tournaments on the season. Newberry’s worst finish was sixth place of 16 at last week’s Cape Fear Invitational, a tournament comprised almost entirely of Division I teams.
The Wolves have ascended to the seventh position in the most recent Golfstat Division II rankings and lead the Southeast Region.
Tournament host Lander won the team competition playing on its home course. The Bearcats were a stroke under par for the day to finish at seven over for the tournament, defeating the Wolves by seven strokes.
Newberry, which was in fifth place after the first round but surged into the runner-up position during the second, was five shots ahead of third-place Georgia College.
Spencer Skiff climbed up seven spots on the leaderboard with a 72, his 13th round of the season at or below par of 21 played, to finish in sixth place. The Aiken native finished the tournament at two over par, tied with three other golfers. It marked Skiff’s sixth top-10 finish of the season.
Joining Skiff in the top 10 was Ben Thompson. The sophomore from Scarborough, Ontario landed a four over for the tournament for his third top-10 finish. Carlos Leandro was two shots back in a six-way tie for 19th, leaving Evan DeGrazia one stroke outside the top 20.
DeGrazia tied for 25th at seven-over to give Newberry its fourth score. Harry Bolton rebounded from a difficult opening round to shoot a pair of 73’s in the final two and finish at nine-over in a tie for 37th.
Newberry was first of the seven South Atlantic Conference teams in attendance. The Wolves finished nine shots clear of their closest league competitor, fourth-place Lincoln Memorial. Coker rounded out the top five at 27 over par, four shots behind Lincoln Memorial.
Newberry’s three-round score of 878 brought its four-player scoring average for the season to 291.6, currently the program’s best showing since at least the 2005-06 season.
The Wolves return to action April 9 and April 10 at The Trojan, hosted by Mount Olive, in the team’s final tune-up before the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Men’s Golf Championship.