4/19/18

Acworth, Ga. | On Monday and Tuesday, the Truett McConnell Men’s Golf team traveled to Acworth, GA, to compete in the AAC Men’s Golf Championship at the Governor’s Towne Club.

The men’s team had an incredible AAC Championship, and they came within one stroke of forcing a playoff with one of the top programs in the country on Monday and Tuesday, which would have given them an automatic bid to play in the National Championship.
 
The practice round was scheduled for Sunday, but a complete rainout forced the course to close with much of it underwater from rivers and new lakes being formed all over the golf course. There was discussion about making the tournament a 36 hole event, and all kinds of contingency plans put in place in case the course was unplayable. Nevertheless, the tournament started on Monday morning as scheduled, and the golf course operators did an incredible job of getting the course ready for play.
 
The conditions were brutal, with saturated fairways and greens, freezing cold weather, and 25-30 mph wind gusts. Thirty-six holes were played on Monday in these conditions. Freshman sensation, Preston Wagaman, led the charge in Round 1, posting a 73 to lead the team. Following closely behind were Matt Smith and Dawson Day with 76’s, and Luke Peavy with a 77, for a combined team score of 302. The first round leader by twelve strokes was Point University, followed by Tennessee Wesleyan with 298, Truett at 302, and Reinhardt with 304.
 
It is hard to comprehend what happened during Round 2. Round 2 featured a coming of age of the young TMU golf team, as the team posted a new one day school record of 3 under par at 285. Dawson Day set a new one day school record with a score of 67, including 5 birdies and no bogeys on his card. Dawson Day was incredible with the command he had of every shot, and he have could had an even lower score if a few more putts would have fallen for him. Junior David Ford shot a 71, and his score was the culmination of a tremendous work ethic and desire to be successful. He has been shooting under par in practice, but this was his first tournament round he has under par on quite possibly the biggest stage. The team also saw another amazing round of an even par, as Luke Peavy shot a Round 2 score of 72. Luke has been working hard to find his game during the spring season, which every golfer goes through at some point in their career. Peavy’s performance can be attributed to his impressive short game, golf IQ, and ability to visualize shots. Preston Wagaman gave the team a solid 75, which contributed to the team score of 285. Matt Smith added a score of 76, which was also an incredible score under these conditions, but his score was thrown out. The Truett McConnell Men’s Golf program has never thrown out a score of 76 in their history, which made this round of golf so incredible. After Round 2, the Bears clawed their way back from the twelve stroke deficit they had to Point and took a one stroke lead to end Round 2. The team totals at this point in the tournament were Truett at 587, Point at 588, Reinhardt at 597, and Tennessee Wesleyan at 607.
 
This set up a head-to-head showdown with Truett, Point, and Reinhardt on Day 2 for 18 holes. Point started out on fire, building as much as a fifteen stroke advantage over the first 5 holes. Reinhardt was also not far behind with some great scores of their own. When all the groups made the turn after 9 holes, Truett closed the deficit on Point to 5 strokes and increased the gap on Reinhardt. While the final group was on hole 13, Truett had closed the gap to dead even with Point. By the time the first 2 groups finished, and the last group had 3 holes left to play. Truett actually held a lead on Point for a brief period of time, and Point had some strong senior leadership coming up to the final stretch of the tournament which proved to be the deciding factor. The men displayed courage and determination, but in the end came up 1 stoke short of Point University to force a playoff to go to the National Championship. The final round saw Matt Smith and Preston Wagaman posting scores of 75, which included Smith chipping in for eagle on the final hole of the tournament. Dawson Day followed up his Round 2 score of 67 with a 76, which was good enough for him to finish 2nd individually in the tournament and land a spot on the all-tournament team. Freshman Preston Wagaman also was named to the All-Tournament Team as he finished in 5th place individually. David Ford posted a gritty 78, which contributed to the team score of 304. Point posted a team score of 302, which was good enough for the 1 stroke victory in the tournament and an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship.
 
Coach Patton had this to say about the tournament, “I don’t even know where to begin describing the feeling and the joy we felt playing in this tournament. Our team has been spending time with each other, loving each other, and preparing for this moment all season. These young men are such fine examples of what is possible when you put a group of young men together, who love the Lord, love each other, and are all about the team and not about individual accolades. Our scripture verse we held onto for the final round was 2 Timothy 1:7, which talks about the spirit that God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. These men exemplified all of these attributes on the course today and played like seasoned veterans in the face of adversity. The support they gave each other and courage they displayed, the love they showed for one another, and the decisions they made on the course were impeccable. These men played with character and integrity, and they graciously congratulated their opponents once they realized they had not accomplished their goal. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing job that was done by our Assistant Coach for the tournament, fellow teammateDuncan Taylor, who was filling in for Coach Luna as he was at home coaching the women’s team in a tournament. Duncan helped provide passion, encouragement, grit, and love for his teammates that helped us reach these new school records, and he was a huge part of our success this week.  We also had a group text going with every member of the team back at home, and they were hanging on every shot, and praying for the players down the stretch. Some of the players actually made the trip to the course for the final round to support their teammates. It would have been amazing to have hoisted that championship trophy and had the chance to play in the National Championship, but we also give praise and glory to the Lord for giving us this opportunity and for giving us the ability to play with such poise, joy, and true competitive spirit. We play for the Lord, for each other, and for the pure joy of getting to play the game we love. We came away from this tournament with something far more valuable than a trophy, and that is an unwavering love and appreciation for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We also gained a newfound love and passion for each member of our team that has reached new depths and a desire to work as hard as we can to get back to this point in the future, so that we may bring honor and glory to the One who has blessed us with the desire to be a man of character and integrity and the ability to play the game we love.”