Mocs Extend Lead at SoCon Men’s Golf Championship

FLORENCE, S.C.—After 36 holes, No. 12 Chattanooga holds an eight-shot lead at the Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence. The Mocs shot a scintillating 281 (-7) with four players shooting sub-par rounds to stand at five-under par 571.

“I could not be prouder of the effort,” UTC coach Mark Guhne said. “We came out and played strong throughout the lineup. We really keyed on gaining ground and I thought we did a great job of that even with how well College of Charleston (288) played.”

Ben Rickett led the way with a three-under par 69 to move into first place overall for the tournament at 141 (-3). Reigning SoCon Player of the Year Jonathan Hodge fired a two-under par 70 and is now tied for 14th at 146 (+2).

Derek Rende and J.T. Clendenin carded matching 71s (-1). Clendenin is now tied for ninth at 144 (E), while Rende is tied with Hodge at 146 (+2). Fredrik Qvicker’s 73 (+1) moved him to tied for fifth at one-under par 143.

Chattanooga leads second-place College of Charleston (579/+3) by eight strokes. The Cougars are followed by Furman at 586 (+10) and Western Carolina at 588 (+12).

Rickett holds a one-shot lead over Matt Cook (WCU), Nathan Stamey (UNCG) and Soonam Kim (CofC) at 142. Qvicker is tied for fifth with Jimmy Lytle (Elon), Drew Perry (Wofford) and Ben Goforth (Furman) at 143 (-1).

The tournament concludes tomorrow with the final 18.