Mercer University
David Toms Intercollegiate
Men's Golf Finishes Third at David Toms Intercollegiate
10/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
BATON ROUGE, La. – Mercer sophomore Emmanuel Kountakis fired a 6-under 66 in the final round of the David Toms Intercollegiate, leading the men's golf team into third place finish.
"Emmanuel had an amazing day to lead the team," head coach Kirk Kayden said. "However, one of the most impressive things about his performance was that he has never played on this course before this weekend. It helped set the tone for our best round of the year and good showing at a tough tournament."
Kountakis carded the lowest score of any player on Sunday to move out of a tie for 12th and into second place overall with an one-over 217 for the tournament. The Top 10 finish is Kountakis' second-straight, after finishing seventh at last week's Inverness Intercollegiate.
As a team, Mercer posted a score of 286 on the final round of action, as all five players tallied their best round of the tournament to help the team to its best 18 holes this fall. The Bears moved past Winthrop into third place at the event, which featured seven Golfweek.com Top 100 programs. Host Louisiana State claimed the team crown with a score of 891, while Southeastern Louisiana finished two strokes behind in second place.
Freshman Jerry Ren used 73 strokes on Sunday to capture his first Top 10 finish (eighth overall) with a 54-hole total of 224. Senior Trey Rule had his best round of the weekend, carding a 71 en route to a tournament total of 225 and a 10th-place finish. Sean Smothers finished with a score of 236 thanks to Sunday's 76, while Jeffrey Heinicka, Jr. fired a 79 on the final day for a three-round score of 244.
"Our guys worked hard in the practice round and really prepared themselves to have a great tournament," added Kayden. "Trey and Jerry both had outstanding days and Sean was able to battle an injury to card a 76. Hopefully we'll look back at this tournament as the one that was a key turning point for a great season."
The Bears will return to action on October 13-14, when they compete in the Autotrader.com Collegiate Classic hosted by Georgia State at Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth, Ga.
