KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Heavy overnight rains made conditions tough enough for the final round of the Kiawah Classic. A steady downpour on Tuesday morning washed out the final round after less than two hours of play, leaving Charleston Southern with an impressive five-shot win in the Kiawah Classic by Aramark at Turtle Point Golf Club.
Tuesday's scores were wiped away after six holes for golfers and CSU picked one of the most impressive regular season wins in school history across all sports. The Bucs finished ahead of four teams ranked in the top 33 nationally, two in the top 10, to win their own tournament.
"That probably the biggest win in school history for golf in the regular season," CSU Director of Golf Mike Wilson said following the rainout. "To beat four of the top 33 teams in the country is pretty good. We were playing pretty well today in the soft conditions, but Virginia was starting to make a charge at us. I think they were 5-under and we were 3-under when we came off the course, but you can't control the weather…We tried to give it a shot. You could see it starting to puddle up just about everywhere and it just kept raining. It's why every shot counts every time you tee it up."
Conditions were perfect for the first two rounds and the Buccaneers took advantage. CSU finished at 10-under as a team to finish ahead of some of the best golfers the ACC – and country – have to offer.
CSU (-10) finished ahead of No. 22 Virginia (-5), No. 6 Duke (-1), No. 33 Augusta (-1), and College of Charleston (+3). CSU also finished ahead of No. 9 Georgia Tech, who took 10th, and was 28 shots better than Coastal Carolina (+18), the closest of six Big South school in the field.
The Bucs had 23 birdies as a team and an eagle by Austin James to post the low round of the tournament on Monday. Sophomore R.J. Keur finished as the runner-up at 9-under, finishing one stroke back of Augusta's Robin Petersson (-10). Junior Austin James tied for fifth at 4-under and fired a 68 in the second round to help CSU seize control of the tournament.
"R.J. was really steady," Wilson added. "He started making putts this week. He didn't make many in his early tournaments. He made a putter change last week and that seemed to work. This course doesn't suit Austin James that well. He hits it a long way and its really tight, but he made an adjustment to his approach and it paid off for him."
The win also gives Wilson and the Bucs the highest of notes on which to end the fall season.
"I'm just really happy for our guys and the hard work they've put it," Wilson said. "It shows we're one of the best teams in the country and I'm excited to see what we can do in the spring."
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