It took the Eagle men's golf program 35 years to win their first Schenkel Invitational, but it is starting to become a habit.
Georgia Southern led its home tournament wire-to-wire and put the exclamation point on their second-straight Schenkel Invitational team title by matching the low score of the day with a 284 in the final round Sunday at Forest Heights Country Club.
The 19th-ranked Eagles (-27) won by 11 strokes over No. 24 Mississippi State (-16). Middle Tennessee (-7) took third, Liberty (-5) placed fourth and Kentucky (+1) was fifth.
It was Georgia Southern's fourth Schenkel Invitational team title; the Eagles won their first in 2014. Georgia Southern has won the event or finished runner-up in each of the last six times it was contested (2020 was canceled).
Carr birdied 18 to shoot 8-under and win medalist honors by a stroke over Hunter Logan of Mississippi State. He is the fifth Eagle to win medalist honors, joining Steven Fisk (2019), Scott Wolfes (2014), Richie Bryant (1989) and Jimmy Ellis (1973). It was Carr's fourth career win, his 13th top-five finish and the 26th top-10 finish of his career.
Carr birdied two of his first four holes to start the day but ran into trouble on 10, when he hit his tee shot out of bounds and wound up with a triple bogey. The fifth-year senior promptly birdied the next two holes to climb back into a tie for first, ran off five straight pars and then birdied 18 for the win.
Mason Williams (T5), Wilson Andress (T7) and Parker Claxton (T7) joined Carr in the top-10, and Hogan Ingram tied for 16th, giving all five Eagles in the lineup this week a top-20 finish. Claxton and Williams each rolled in five birdies today and posted a 70 to lead the team. Andress and Carr each shot 72.
The Eagles led the tournament in par-4 scoring, par-5 scoring and birdies with 69. The field featured five teams in the top-50 in the country, according to Golfstat.
Scores
Team – 272-281-284=837 (-27), 1
Ben Carr – 68-68-72=208 (-8), 1
Mason Williams – 66-75-70=211 (-5), T5
Wilson Andress – 71-69-72=212 (-4), T7
Parker Claxton – 70-72-70=212 (-4), T7
Hogan Ingram – 68-72-76=216 (E), T16
Colin Bowles* - 75-71-73=219 (+3), T28
Luke Dasher* - 74-71-78=223 (+7), T48
Luke Koenig* - 73-77-74=224 (+8), T53
Brantley Baker* - 74-76-75=225 (+9), T59
Hayden Carner* - 80-72-73=225 (+9), T59
Lindsey Cordell* - 81-76-74=231 (+15), 74
*Played as individual
Quotables
Ben Carr
On his round
"It was very up and down. I got off to a really nice start and was 4-under through 6 and then made kind of a sloppy bogey on 7 and 8 and then blasted one out of bounds on 10. I don't know where I stood at that point, obviously a couple back, so I figured if I could just keep my head in it and just kind of fall into some birdies the last eight holes, anything can happen. I'm really glad it did."
On winning the Schenkel
"As soon as I got a taste of this tournament, I've always wanted to win it. It's really special to be able to do it, and to have a third team win is really special."
Head coach Carter Collins
"It's very appropriate that the seniors went out this way and very appropriate for Ben to birdie the last hole to win the Schenkel. It was just a special week all the way around, but this was a complete team victory. We're very proud of them for everything they put into this tournament – all the emotion that they had to keep control of throughout the week – and for them to finish the way they did just shows how special they are and how much this tournament means to them."
Next up
The Eagles return to action next Monday at The Valspar at The Floridian in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
