Vols Take Inverness Intercollegiate by Seven Strokes

Tuesday, September 25

Toledo, OH

All Day

University of Tennessee

Inverness Intercollegiate

September 25, 2018 | Men's Golf

Tennessee wins its second team tournament title in two starts this season

By: Andy Kovar

TOLEDO, Ohio. – For the first time in program history, the University of Tennessee men's golf team has opened the season with back-to-back tournament championships in its first two starts.

After taking the Carpet Capital Collegiate to open the 2018-19 season, the Vols led the Inverness Intercollegiate wire-to-wire to take home their second piece of hardware by seven strokes over the 12 team field.

The Tennessee lead was never in doubt entering Tuesday. The Vols, who had to finish up their second round this morning, took a nine shot lead into the third round. At one point in the third round, Tennessee led by as much as 15 strokes with four players sitting inside of the top 10 on the leaderboard.

All five of the players in the Tennessee lineup and six in total landed inside of the top 25 on the leaderboard as individual Spencer Cross turned in the Vols low score.

After an opening round 74, Cross leaped up the leaderboard with rounds of 71 and 70 to close out the week. The sophomore finished third overall which is a collegiate best for the Sevierville, Tenn. product.

Redshirt sophomore Tyler Johnson and junior Hunter Wolcott tied for the low score in the starting five. Both finished one stroke back of Cross at 3-over-par for the tournament.

Johnson and Wolcott both tied for fourth on the individual leaderboard and helped Tennessee bring in their score in the final round. Johnson had the low round of the day for the lineup bookending his day with birdies to card a 71 (E).

Coach's Take
On dealing with expectations coming into the tournament:
"Expectations are a great thing to have and learning to deal with them is a huge part of becoming a great team. Coming here expecting to win and then backing it up was a huge step for us."-- Coach Brennan Webb

On mindset through tough weather conditions:
"They just had the mindset that they were going to put their heads down and just play and trust that their best was going to be good enough. We started the day preparing for all 54 holes to be completed and despite what the forecast looked like we somehow got it in." – Coach Brennan Webb

On Spencer Cross:
"Spencer is a great player and his play this week does not surprise me at all. He has played very well in qualifying at home this semester. He is going to be a huge part of our program going forward and will compete for championships like the ones he won in high school and junior golf." – Coach Brennan Webb

Player's Take
On finishing with a birdie to card an even-par round:
"It was relieving to finish with a birdie after three long rounds at a difficult golf course. Coach happened to be around that hole getting scorecards, so it was exciting to see his reaction afterwards." -- Tyler Johnson

On playing with confidence on the course:
"Our confidence comes from the hard work and time we put into our golf games before we step on the tee for a tournament. If we all do our best and have fun with it, we won't have anything to worry about." -- Tyler Johnson

Final Scores:

Team

1	Tennessee	864 (+12)
T2	Virginia	871 (+19)
T2	San Francisco	871 (+19)
4	Santa Clara	872 (+20)
T5	St. Mary's (CA)	891 (+39)
T5	Butler	891 (+39)
7	Toledo	894 (+42)
8	Louisiana	899 (+47)
T9	Dayton	903 (+51)
T9	St. Bonaventure	903 (+51)
11	Fresno State	910 (+58)
12	Mercer	918 (+66)