HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Charleston Southern held off Augusta University over the final round of the Pinnacle Bank Intercollegiate on Tuesday afternoon as the Buccaneers claimed the team title at the tournament held at the Palmetto Hall Plantation.

The Bucs (+7) topped the Jaguars (+9) by two strokes over the final round as the teams battled through the final 18 holes. CSU and Augusta were both tied at +1 through the first 36 holes played on Monday, but the Bucs utilized strong closing rounds by Parker Jones (-1), Jake Carter (Even), Ben Carroll (+2) and Tyler Beeck (+5) to secure their first team win since the 2018-19 season.

Carroll (5th) and Jones (T-7th) both recorded top-10 finishes in the tournament, while Carter (T-11th) was also in the hunt throughout the final day of competition.

The Bucs' secured their first win since the 2019 Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate when CSU rallied back to erase an 11-stroke deficit in the victory. This time around, CSU led from start-to-finish on the golf course with the players shooting a combined eight rounds of par-or-better in the two-stroke win.

"I'm really proud the efforts of these guys," Head Coach Jason Payne commented. "The final pairing is where you want to be to have yourself in a position to win the tournament heading into the final round. We were up-and-down with Augusta throughout the day but coming down the stretch it was nice to get ahead. It was exciting and well-deserved for these guys."

Carroll (Even) was consistently the Bucs' top player on the course over the tournament as the Blacksburg, Va. native carded back-to-back 71s (-1) yesterday to sit fourth overall in the field. His final round 74 (+2) put him in fifth in the final standings, the highest finish in his collegiate career. He turned in birdies on the 10th and 15th holes to highlight his final round.

Jones (+2) made the biggest move for the Bucs on the final day of the tournament as the Trussville, Ala. native turned in one of just eight under-par rounds in the tournament field on the day to move up nine positions into a tie for seventh place. Jones put together four birdies over the closing round to finish with a 71 (-1) for his second round under par in the tournament.

Carter (+3) finished tied for 17th in the field as the Aiken, S.C. native finished at even-par 72 for the day. He birdied the fifth, eighth, 13th, and 15th holes to highlight his round as he finished just outside the top-10 in a tie for 11th in the field.

Beeck (+6) closed out the tournament with a final round 77 (+5) to finish tied for 21st in the field. The Sheboygan Falls, Wis. native birdied the second and fifth holes on the day, but bogeys down the stretch pushed him back in the field.

Alan Smith (+15) birdied the 10th and 15th holes to highlight his final round of the tournament as the Winchendon, Mass. senior finished tied for 61st in the field. Smith went 79 (+7) over his final 18 holes.

Furman's Keller Harper and High Point's Brandon Einstein tied for the individual tournament championship at four-under-par.

News & Notes

• Charleston Southern picked up their second win under Head Coach Jason Payne.
• The Bucs recorded the second-lowest par-3 team scores in the tournament sitting four-under over the holes and posting a 2.93 stroke average.
• CSU was also nine-under par on par-5s on the tournament sitting third-lowest among the teams.
• Consistency was key to CSU's success in the tournament as the Bucs tied for the second-most pars overall with 165 as a team.
• Ben Carroll and Jake Carter both went two-under par on par-3s over the three rounds.

Up Next
The Charleston Southern men's golf team joins the rest of the CSU Athletic Department in a COVID-related pause before preparing to get back on the links on March 8-9 for The Palmetto Intercollegiate hosted by USC Aiken. The two-day event will take place at the Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken, S.C.