
STATESBORO, Ga. – Four golfers represented the University of Tennessee at Martin at the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate over the weekend in the first action of the spring schedule.
The Skyhawks were one of 19 colleges to join the unique tournament setup as there were no team standings. UT Martin joined Auburn, Augusta, Bowling Green, Duke, Florida, host Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Liberty, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee and USC Beaufort in the 72-man competition of individuals.
Luke Caldwell (14th place), Jackson Twerdahl (18th) and Ethan Ray (24th) each earned top-25 finishes while Drew Williams also returned to his home state to take part in the event, which consisted of two rounds on Saturday before the final 18 holes on Sunday.
Caldwell carded scores of 70-73-75 for a 218 (+2). The junior from Cookeville, Tenn. ranked seventh in the field with a team-best 12 birdies, seven of which came during the first round.
A redshirt senior out of Nolensville, Tenn., Twerdahl showed improvement in each round with a final three-over tally of 219 (74-73-72). He ranked eighth in the tournament in par-5 scoring (4.50, -6) – aided by the only Skyhawk eagle in the event, which occurred on the 527-yard, par-5 Hole No. 1 in the second round.
Ray followed closely behind with a 221 (+5) that included rounds of 72-74-75. The redshirt senior from Collierville, Tenn. led the entire field with 38 pars while topping UT Martin with a 4.13 (+1) par-4 scoring average.
Playing approximately 150 miles from his hometown of Greensboro, Williams posted scores of 76-80-76 for a 232 (+16). The freshman provided the best score of any Skyhawk golfer in par-3 average as his 2.92 (-1) ranked sixth in the whole tournament.
UT Martin will make its official team spring debut in two weeks when it travels to the Loyola Intercollegiate in Goodyear, Ariz. on Feb. 16-18.