Mercer Men Tee Off at SoCon Championship Sunday

Sunday, April 23

Pinehurst, N.C.

Mercer University

Southern Conference Championship

Photo by: Chris Murman

Mercer Men Tee Off at SoCon Championship Sunday

4/21/2017 10:11:00 AM | Men's Golf

Live Scoring Championship Central

By: Patrick T. Walsh

MACON, Ga. – It all comes down to this. Mercer heads to Pinehurst, North Carolina as the 2017 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship will tee off Sunday morning.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Dates: Sunday-Tuesday, April 23-25
Location: Pinehurst, N.C. | Pinehurst No. 9
Course Information: Par-72; 7,118 yards
Format: Tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. each day, 18 holes per day
Live Scoring: GolfStat.com
More info: SoCon Championship Central

MERCER LINEUP
1. Justin Connelly | Sr.
2. Stanton Schorr | So.
3. Brennan Bogdanovich | So.
4. Kiko Rosete | Fr.
5. Hayes Rule | So.

THE FIELD
The Southern Conference has eight of its 10 member institutions that field men's golf programs: Chattanooga, ETSU, Furman, Mercer, Samford, UNCG, Western Carolina and Wofford. Chattanooga enters the postseason as the top-rated SoCon team (according to Golf Stat) at 93^rd while two other schools, UNCG and ETSU, are within 18 places of the Mocs. The Bears enter the week ranked fifth in the conference but are coming off a win over the top-ranked Mocs in their last tournament.

COACH KAYDEN'S TAKE
"The guys are well prepared to play in the conference championship this weekend. We have played a number of difficult golf courses this spring under some tough conditions, which will have them prepared to play with confidence this week. Three of the guys (Justin Connelly, Brennan Bogdanovich, Hayes Rule) played in the SoCon Championship at Pinehurst last year and that will be a big help in our preparation work. Avoiding the big numbers this week will be one of the keys to success. We have played the par 3s well this year and that should help us in this event as three of the four are some of the more difficult holes on the course".

SOCON CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
This will mark Mercer's third appearance in the Southern Conference Championship since entering the league. The Bears are intent on improving on their finish after placing eighth last year and seventh the year before in the eight-team league.

Last season marked the first appearance in a conference championship event for three of the five Bears in the lineup whereas this year, three of the five Bears (Justin Connelly, Brennan Bogdanovich and Hayes Rule) have championship tournament experience. Bogdanovich finished tied for 25^th last year at 13-over-par while Connelly and Rule tied for 27^th at 15-over-par.

2016 SoCon Championship

8.	Mercer	303	315	300	+54	918
T-25.	Brennan Bogdanovich	72	79	78	+13	229
T-27.	Justin Connelly	77	78	76	+15	231
T-27.	Hayes Rule	79	79	73	+15	231
T-34.	Jerry Ren	82	79	73	+18	234
40.	Sean Smothers	75	87	82	+28	244

2015 SoCon Championship

7.	Mercer	297	293	305	+31	895
4.	Trey Rule	73	66	75	-2	214
T-21.	Emmanuel Kountakis	78	76	72	+10	226
T-30.	Jerry Ren	73	75	84	+16	232
T-30.	Sean Smothers	73	77	82	+16	232
T-34.	Jeffrey Heinicka	83	76	76	+19	235

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Golf, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerGolf (Twitter) and @MercerBears (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.