Ekert, Carlin Lead Spiders to 3rd-Place Finish in Hilton Head

Monday, February 20

Hilton Head, SC

8:15 AM

University of Richmond

Wexford Intercollegiate

Ekert, Carlin Lead Spiders to 3rd-Place Finish in Hilton Head

02/21/2023 | Men's Golf

RESULTS

HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Sophomore Cole Ekert and freshman Drew Carlin each recorded top-five finishes to help the Richmond Men's Golf team to a third-place team showing at the Wexford Intercollegiate Tuesday. Ekert tied for second in the field of 90 individuals with a 54-hole total of 214 (-2), two shots in front of Carlin, who tied for fifth.

As a team, Richmond finished 22 strokes over par at 886, tied with Francis Marion for third place and seven shots behind South Carolina-Aiken, which won the 18-team tournament.

"It was nice to be competitive in the first event of the spring," said Head Coach Adam Decker. "Obviously it hurts to come up short but it was encouraging to see some nice individual performances. Drew with a top five and Cole with a runner-up finish was awesome. Both are going to be nice building blocks moving forward."

The runner-up finish was the best result of Ekert's collegiate career and the best finish for any Spider in a tournament since Lou Baker placed second at the 2021 Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate in Williamsburg, Va. Ekert recorded 15 birdies during the event, two more than any other golfer in the field.

Carlin's tie for fifth give him two top-five finishes in his four career collegiate tournaments. He tied for third at Yale's MacDonald Cup last September. Carlin is the first Spider to record multiple top-five finishes in a season since 2016-17, when both Keegan Hoff and Matthew Lowe did it.

The Spiders finished tied for third in the 18-team event, Richmond's second podium finish this season after placing third at the MacDonald Cup in the fall. This is the first season Richmond has recorded a pair of top-three finishes since 2016-17, when the Spiders won the Atlantic 10 Championship and Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate and finished third at the Seahawk Intercollegiate.

Michael Childress tied for 18th in the field at 221 (+5), his 10th career top-20 finish.

Lou Baker tied for 60th at 233 (+17) and Garrett Clark placed 88th at 246 (+30).

The Spiders will return to competition in two weeks during Richmond's Spring Break, when UR competes in the Tiger Invitational in Auburn, Ala. (March 5-7) and the Sea Palms Invitational in St. Simons Island, Ga. (March 9-11).