Esnault, #9 Men's Golf leap to runner-up status at Oldfield Classic

OKATIE, S.C. — The No. 9 Catawba College men's golf team logged its fifth-best round in program history on Tuesday at the Oldfield Classic, briefly jumping into the driver's seat before settling for the runner-up slot.

Catawba wrapped up the second round and opened the third with impressively-low scores, which gave the blue and white a three-shot lead with 9-10 holes to go. However, No. 8 Georgia Southwestern dipped under par and overtook the Catawba Indians to claim the No. 1 spot in team standings. Catawba's third round was a tournament-best 280 (-8), making for an 871 (+7) final score that topped No. 6 Wingate, No. 12 Columbus State and Division I Drexel.

Emmanuel's Gabriel Hull closed the event par or better in each round en route to winning individual medalist honors with a final card of 72-68-71 (-5), leading a second-place logjam consisting of Paul Esnault, Sam Brown (GSW), and Sam McMillan (Anderson) by two strokes.

RESULTS
T-2. Paul Esnault (213, -3)
T-6. Ilia Antoniadis (215, -1)
T-18. Pranay Kapur (221, +5)
T-23. Allan Lockwood (222, +6)
T-42. Alec Barker (230, +14)
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T-75. Ryan Masterton (240, +24), Individual

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Esnault racked up six birdies during his final-round 67, the lowest round of the tournament that tied Catawba's against-par record for juniors (-5); across his last 32 holes of the event, the Caen, France, native went 11-under to pave the way toward his runner-up finish
- Antoniadis laid down a squeaky-clean 69 in the third round that included three birdies and no bogeys to capture his ninth career top-10 finish
- Kapur and Lockwood, with help from an eighth-hole eagle, registered par rounds to finish one shot apart at 221 and 222, respectively
- Using a five-birdie round, Barker also fired a par to close out Tuesday to give Catawba five par-or-better third round scores
- Masterton rounded out the Catawba contingent with a tough Round 3, recording a birdie on Hole No. 8 for back-to-back rounds to take a share of 75th place

RECORD BROKEN
- Catawba has broken the program record for most individual rounds in the 60s in a season, accomplishing the feat 13 times with three regular-season tournaments and the South Atlantic Conference Championship left on the schedule

UP NEXT
The Catawba Indians are back in action on Mar. 16-17 at the Hargett Memorial Intercollegiate hosted by SAC rival Wingate.