Late birdies lift Gardner-Webb to Wexford Intercollegiate crown

Freshman Steffen Smith’s three consecutive birdies keyed a strong back nine by Gardner-Webb golfers, lifting the Bulldogs above a crowded lead pack to capture the team championship at at the Wexford Intercollegiate.

The Bulldogs carded 10 birdies in all over Wexford Plantation’s back nine, with as four of their five golfers posted scores of no worse than 4-over-par 76. Gardner-Webb’s team score of 293 matched the day’s best, leaving them four strokes ahead of Winthrop with a total of 882.

Radford’s Myles Creighton took individual honors, going bogey-free over his final 16 holes for a final round of 4-under 68. That was good for a three-shot victory over Gardner-Webb’s Vincent Blanchette.

Gardner-Webb began Tuesday day one shot behind co-leaders Radford and USC Aiken, as six teams had a shot at the title heading to the back nine.

After playing his first 11 holes in 6-over par, Smith found his rhythm to string together consecutive birdies at Nos. 12-14. He added another birdie at No. 18 to finish with a 76.

Jonathan Henry had the steadiest round for the Bulldogs, with just one bogey countered by three birdies on the way to a 70. Blanchette added a 73 and Aaron Thomas had a 74.

Zak Butt paced Winthrop with a 70 that included six birdies, but the Eagles as a team made just four birdies on the back nine to lose ground to Gardner-Webb.

High Point freshman Alec Weary, a Bluffton High graduate who shared the individual lead after 36 holes, struggled to a closing 80 that left him in a tie for 15th.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Late birdies lift Gardner-Webb to Wexford Intercollegiate crown."