The Mercer Men’s Golf team finished in second place overall at the Golfweek Fall Challenge last week, breaking the program record for a 54 hole course in the process with a team score of 29-under par.
The Fall Challenge took place from Sept. 12 to Sept. 14 and featured three days of golfing on a 54 hole course. The Bears were able to grab second place by having three individual golfers finish within the top 10 spots. Tobias Jonsson finished fourth overall by shooting 10-under par. Martin Plukka and Jay Spivey tied for sixth overall, both shooting 9-under par.
As a team, the Bears actually maintained possession of first place over the course of the first two days of play. After two days Mercer had a score of 29-under par to outpace the second place team, the Delaware University Blue Hens. The lead came thanks to Plukka and Spivey being tied for second place going into the final game.
Despite the 17 stroke lead going into the final day of the contest, the Bears couldn’t seal the win. The team as a whole shot par and fell just behind the Blue Hens, who took the lead and eventually won the Fall Challenge. Delaware shot an incredible 18-under par on day three to take the win.
Despite losing the lead on the final day of competition, the overall tournament bodes well for Mercer. Plukka and Spivey had strong showings, while Jonsson surprised the field with a strong third day of play to take fourth place.
Other notable finishers for the Bears included Jonathan Parker, who shot 1-under par on the last day of play and gave Mercer the boost they needed to hold on to second place overall. Parker finished 26th overall individually. New player and freshman Trey Mixon finished with a score of 7-over par to tie for 59th individually.
With a strong team performance and several good individual showings under their belt, the Men’s Golf team will travel to the JT Poston Invitational at Western Carolina University beginning Sept. 27. The course in Sapphire, North Carolina features 54 total holes played over the course of two days.
Micah Johnston ‘22 is a journalism and media studies double major who has written for The Cluster since his freshman year at Mercer. He has written on and reported for Georgia Public Broadcasting, The Macon Telegraph and The Macon Newsroom on a variety of topics. He received the Center for Collaborative Journalism’s Junior Honors Award for the 2020-2021 academic year. Micah’s other interests include obsessively following Braves and Mariners baseball, constantly listening to all kinds of music and probably eating junk food.
