Franklin Jumps Into Eighth, Bears Move Up Three Spots In Second Round Of Golfweek Fall Challenge

Monday, September 7

Pawleys Island, S.C.

All Day

Mercer University

Round 2

Franklin Jumps Into Eighth, Bears Move Up Three Spots In Second Round Of Golfweek Fall Challenge

9/7/2026 5:44:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Rylee Bamberger, rylee.m.bamberger@live.mercer.edu

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. – A red-hot second round by Cooper Franklin propelled the freshman into the Top 10 at the Golfweek Fall Challenge. Mercer moved up three spots and is tied for fourth.

Franklin, a native of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, sank six birdie putts in just his second round of golf at the collegiate level and sits tied for eighth individually with 18 holes left to play.

Lukas Lautrup finished as Mercer's second-best leading scorer in the second round of play. The junior transfer carded a two-under 70 with just one bogey on the round. Phillips Swift finished the day one under par and sits tied for third individually.

Round three of the Golfweek Fall Challenge begins on Tuesday, September 8. Ryan Curran will start the day at 8:19 a.m., with each of his fellow Bears following behind in nine-minute increments.

TEAM LEADERBOARD
Pos.	Team	+/-	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
1	Georgia Southern	-25	272	279		551
2	Troy	-9	281	286		567
3	Georgia State	-6	281	289		570
T4	Mercer	-1	290	285		575
T4	Eastern Kentucky	-1	286	289		575
6	USC Upstate	+1	296	281		577
7	Tennessee Tech	+3	288	291		579
8	Old Dominion	+5	284	297		581
9	UT-Martin	+6	290	292		582
T10	Radford	+7	296	287		583
T10	Murray State	+7	298	285		583
12	West Georgia	+10	295	291		586
T13	Presbyterian	+13	292	297		589
T13	Central Arkansas	+13	297	292		589
15	Bellarmine	+17	299	294		593
16	Missouri State	+20	301	295		596
MERCER INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T3	Phillips Swift (1)	-6	67	71		138
T63	Ethan Dufresne (2)	+7	75	76		151
T8	Cooper Franklin (3)	-4	72	68		140
T51	Lukas Lautrup (4)	+4	78	70		148
T66	Ryan Curran (5)	+8	76	76		152