Union University’s men’s and women’s golf teams finished the Gulf South Conference Championships on Tuesday, and sophomore McKenna Montgomery earned Union’s first ever top-ten individual finish, placing ninth overall with a score of 16 over par.
Despite Montgomery’s impressive tournament, the women’s team placed just seventh out of nine teams.With no seniors and only one junior on the team, though, she is still optimistic about the future with this young core intact.
“We definitely could have played better as a team, but it’s encouraging to look at what we can do in the years to come,” Montgomery said. “We have a young team with a lot of potential, and with more experience going into next year I think we’ll only get better.”
The men’s team finished in a similar spot (eighth place of 12), but the last round presented reason for optimism going into next season. All five golfers posted their best rounds of the tournament in round three, topped off by sophomore accounting major Jordan Botwinick’s team-best 72 to move him into the top 25 individually.
“The tournament started off a struggle for the entire team during the first two rounds, but the team turned it around and we all played really solid the third round and moved up three spots,” Botwinick’s teammate and fellow sophomore accounting major Cal Templeton said. “We are going to miss our two seniors Kyle [Souleyrette] and Jon [Sain] next year, but we have a lot to look forward to.”
While neither team finished the tournament at the top of the leaderboard, the GSC Championships still provide a glimpse into a brighter future for Union’s golf program when it tees up again this fall.
