CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern men's golf will look to extend its 2021-22 season this week, as it travels to Ninety Six, South Carolina, for the annual Big South Championships as the No. 4 seed. Tournament play gets underway with stroke play of 36 holes Thursday and the final 18 Friday at The Patriot at Grand Harbor course.

TOP-FOUR IS WHERE THEY WANT TO BE
The Buccaneers enter the field as the No. 4 seed, a coveted position to move into Saturday's match play which will ultimately decide the league champion and automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals. CSU will be seeking its first opportunity to join the group since the format was adopted by the league in 2019. Last spring, the Bucs missed out by a stroke but had registered five-straight top-four results from 2014-18.

TOURNAMENT WIN HIGHLIGHTS REGULAR SEASON
Charleston Southern played in eight events throughout the regular season, starting in late September, but it was a title win at the Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Intercollegiate in late March that delivered the highlight. The Bucs carded a 1-under 863 to take the crown, which included a 7-under 281 in the final round, their best 18-hole team score of the season by three strokes.

CARROLL & SMITH TOE-TO-TOE
Six of the eight individuals to lead the squad at the tournaments have been either Ben Carroll or Alan Smith, evenly splitting the top spot three times. Carroll held the low CSU score at the Carolina Collegiate Invitational, Daniel Island Intercollegiate and Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate, while Smith took the reins at the Graeme McDowell Intercollegiate, Grandover Collegiate and Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Intercollegiate.

The only other events which witnessed others in the front of the pack were the Wexford Planation Intercollegiate, as Ethan Willis claimed the honor, and the Wofford Intercollegiate with Griffin Tarver holding the spot.

TOP ALL SEASON
Using the three tournaments as the low Buccaneers score to his advantage, Carroll enters the week with a team-best 73.24 stroke average on the campaign. He has one Top 10, tying for seventh at the Daniel Island Intercollegiate, while finishing just outside the group in a tie for 11th at the Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Intercollegiate. He carded a career-best 66 during second-round play at the Carolina Collegiate Invitational, one of three rounds in the 60s.

LESS THAN A STROKE BACK
Again, Smith is right there with his teammate for top honors across the squad, as he's just behind Carroll with a 73.67 stroke average thus far. He was under par in each of the three tournaments in which he was the team's leader, including a career-best 5-under 211 as part of the title winners on his way to sharing third place on the individual leaderboard, his best career finish. He capped that event with a 3-under 69, equaling his career low for a round set three previous times, including during the fall at the Grandover Collegiate.

NO ONE BETTER OVER THE LAST MONTH
No Charleston Southern play has played better in the last-two events than Tarver on his way to garnering a pair of Big South Freshman of the Week honors. He finished the Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Intercollegiate at 3-over par but it was a final-round 66, tying Carroll for the lowest 18-hole effort by any Bucs player all season, that separated him from others around the conference that week.

He then followed it with a 4-over 220 at the Wofford Intercollegiate, earning the team's low score with a consistent event that featured a 73-73-74 during the three rounds. The two strong tournaments earned him his top-two leaderboard finishes of his career as he seems to be peaking at the right time for head coach Jordan Jeffers.

WILLIS MAKING MOST OF EXTRA YEAR
As a graduate transfer into the program prior to the season, Willis has been a steady presence in the CSU lineup in all eight tournaments. He carded a 68 in his first round playing in the blue and gold, at the Graeme McDowell Intercollegiate, on his way to a 2-under par seventh-place tying result. He added another sub-70 score in the next tournament, the Carolina Collegiate Invitational and has finished among the Top 20 individuals twice during the spring campaign.

SUPPORT ALL SPRING
The final member of the squad who has been in the rotation all spring has been Caleb Loudin. He's also playing his best golf as of late, posting a 10-over par 226 at the Wofford Intercollegiate. Two times he has carded a 73 during a round, most recently during the first 18 holes of the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate on his way to the best 54-hole score of his career.

LOOKING FOR NO. 4
The Buccaneers will be seeking the fourth league title in program history after previously capturing the championship in 2001, 2003 and 2015. This week's event will mark the 14th-straight year in which it will be held at The Patriot at Grand Harbor course, dating back to 2008.

Four times a Charleston Southern individual has garnered medalist honors with the most recent coming in 2016 by Austin James, capping a back-to-back run after R.J. Keur was the 2015 champion.

TOURNAMENT SPECIFICS
Dates: April 21-23
Course: The Patriot at Grand Harbor
Par/Yardage: 72/7,103 yards
Participating Teams (10): Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Longwood, North Carolina A&T, Presbyterian, Radford, USC Upstate, Winthrop

TOURNAMENT SEEDS (WITH NATIONAL RANKING)
1. Campbell (121)
2. High Point (131)
3. Radford (141)
4. Charleston Southern (182)
5. Gardner-Webb (204)
6. Longwood (214)
7. Winthrop (223)
8. USC Upstate (229)
9. Presbyterian (251)
10. North Carolina A&T (280)