BRADENTON, Fla. --- The Chattanooga Mocs men's golf team saw
its championship hopes dashed by top-seeded Arkansas at the Collegiate Match
Play presented by Callaway. The eighth-ranked Razorbacks swept all five matches
Monday at the Concession Golf Club.
Steven Fox (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and Benni Weilguni
(Langenlois, Austria) were the first to fall for the Mocs. Fox dropped a
4&3 decision to Sebastian Cappelen, while Austin Cook topped Weilguni
4&2.
UTC lost the other three matches by the closest of
margins, two losing on the final hole. In a battle of Ben Hogan Award
candidates, senior Stephan Jaeger (Munich, Germany) took a 1up lead with a par
on the 606-yard par five seventh. He maintained it until a bogey on 11 evened
the slate.
Tracy took his advantage on the 16th. His bogey captured
the hole and he matched Jaeger shot-for-shot the rest of the way to clinch the
match with a 1up win for the Razorbacks.
Chris Robb (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) dropped five out of
six holes in the middle of his match with Thomas Sorensen to go from 1up to
4down. As quickly as that happened, he turned it around. Robb won four of the
next six to level the match with a par on two, his 17th hole. Sorensen birdied
three to win the hotly-contested match 1up.
Liam Johnston (Dumfries, Scotland) had an up-and-down
affair with Kolton Crawford. Starting on No. 3, he trailed by one after the
first six holes. He reversed the lead and was up two coming off 14, the 12th
hole of the match. Crawford won three straight holes to re-take the lead 1up
before Johnston evened it again on 18. With the match all square heading into
the final hole, Crawford's par captured the 1up win.
Arkansas moves on to the finals to face defending champion
Duke, while UTC takes on fifth-ranked Cal for third place. The Blue Devils won
the other semifinal 3-2 with Tim Gornik defeating Keelen Kilpatrick in 19
holes.
It's an 8:30 a.m., shotgun start Tuesday as all 16 teams
square off in their final matches. Chattanooga and the Golden Bears start on
holes 1-4. Live scoring can be accessed on GoMocs.com via the men's golf
schedule page.
Semifinals
No. 1 Arkansas
def. No. 5 Chattanooga 5-0
Ethan Tracy (Ark) def. Stephan Jaeger (UTC) 1up
Sebastian Cappelen (Ark) def. Steven Fox (UTC) 4&3
Austin Cook (Ark) def. Benni Weilguni (UTC) 4&2
Kolton Crawford (Ark) def. Liam Johnston (UTC) 1up
Thomas Sorensen (Ark) def. Chris Robb (UTC) 1up
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