Huntingdon’s Strachan wins Wynlakes Wynter Nationals

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon junior Sam Strachan spent a little extra time working on his game after the first round of the Wynlakes Wynter Nationals on Monday.

It paid off in Tuesday's final round at Wynlakes Golf & Country Club.

Strachan shaved seven strokes off his first-round score, fired a 2-under-par 70 in the final round and finished with a 36-hole total of 147. Strachan edged Birmingham-Southern's Michael Wallace for the individual title by one stroke.

"I was able to figure some things out on the range Monday night," Strachan said. "I was also putting better today. A lot of the putts that weren't going in on Monday went in today."

Wallace finished at 148, Oglethorpe's Hayden Jones was third at 149 and first-round leader Andrew Bateman of Methodist was fourth at 150.

Strachan had the only under-par round on Tuesday and one of only two in the tournament.

"Sam had a fantastic round today," Huntingdon golf coach Matt Mahanic said. "I'm very proud of the way he played. He played to his potential and that was good to see. Going forward, we're going to need him to play that way for us to be successful."

The 10th-ranked Hawks finished in third place at 616. Sixth-ranked Oglethorpe, the 2009 Division III national champion, and fourth-ranked Methodist, the 2010 national champion each finished at 606. Oglethorpe won in a tiebreaker. This is the second straight year Oglethorpe has won the tournament.

Defending national champion and 13th-ranked Greensboro was fourth at 624.

Eleven players finished within five strokes of Strachan, including Huntingdon teammate Thomas Mitchell. Mitchell bounced back from a 79 on Monday to shoot 73 in the final round. He finished tied for ninth at 152.

Jamey Lester, who turned in the Hawks' low round on Monday, finished the tournament at 158. Steven Smith followed at 159 and Cates Culpepper shot 169.

Griffin Just led the Huntingdon B-Team, finishing tied for 13th at 154. Rodes Bowers shot 162, Tyler Schmutz shot 163 and Nick Massey finished at 190.

Huntingdon individual results

1) Sam Strachan: 77-70 -- 147

T9) Thomas Mitchell: 79-73 – 152

T18) Jamey Lester: 75-83 -- 158

T22) Steven Smith: 79-80 -- 159

44) Cates Culpepper: 83-86 -- 169

Huntingdon B-Team individual results

T13) Griffin Just: 76-78 -- 154

T30) Rodes Bowers: 79-83 -- 162

T33) Tyler Schmutz: 84-79 -- 163

47) Nick Massey: 91-99 -- 190

Team standings (Division III national ranking indicated below with #)

* Oglethorpe won by tiebreaker

*1. (#6) Oglethorpe University: 304-302 -- 606

2. (#4) Methodist University: 297-309 -- 606

3. (#10) Huntingdon College: 310-306 -- 616

4. (#13) Greensboro College: 315-309 -- 624

5. Birmingham-Southern: 321-307 -- 628

6. (#22) Rhodes College: 324-314 -- 638

7. (#17) Emory University: 322-319 -- 641

8. (#8) Christopher Newport: 330-315 -- 645

9. Huntingdon B-Team: 330-339 -- 669