PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The Coastal Carolina University men’s golf team dropped off the pace and finished ninth at the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational, Feb. 22-24. The three-day, 54-hole tournament is hosted by the University of North Florida at Sawgrass Country Club (Par 72 – 6,955 yards) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

            The Chanticleers had an up-and-down round and posted a 301 in the last 18 to finish at 910 in ninth place. No. 30 LSU took home the team title at 885, eight shots better than runner-up No. 10 Arizona State at 893 and 10 shots ahead of third-place Georgia Southern.

            Redshirt senior Zack Byrd (Calabash, N.C./Byrd Academy) shot 3-over 75 in the final round and tied for second at even-par 216, two shots behind medalist John Peterson from LSU. It was his third straight top-20 and second straight top-three finish this spring. Sophomore Tripp McAllister (Lake City, S.C./The Carolina Academy) was next at 12-over 228, tied for 24th. Juniors Sam Lyons (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) and Dan Obremski (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) tied for 60th at 235. Redshirt sophomore Steve Delmar (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg (Montgomery College)) shot his best round of the tournament with a final round 75, completing Coastal's effort at 246, placing him 82nd.

            Coastal Carolina will return home to host its annual General Jim Hackler Championship at the TPC of Myrtle Beach, Sun.-Mon., Mar. 8-9. All 14 teams competing in this year's event were in the 2008 NCAA Regionals, with five advancing to the NCAA Championship including eventual national champion UCLA.

Team Results (Golfstat Ranking) Scores
1.         LSU (30)           296-295-294=885 (+21)
2.         Arizona State (10)          290-303-300=893 (+29)
3.         Georgia Southern           298-302-295=895 (+31)
4.         Georgia State (48)          299-308-293=900 (+36)
5.         Tennessee (14) 299-311-291=901 (+37)
6.         UAB     298-306-301=905 (+41)
7.         Alabama (3)       307-305-295=907 (+43)
8.         TCU (15)           302-317-290=909 (+45)
9.         Coastal Carolina            301-308-301=910 (+46)
10.         UNC Wilmington            305-316-297=918 (+54)
11.        North Florida      305-307-307=919 (+55)
12.        Tulsa (44)          304-305-312=921 (+57)
T13.      Furman 310-312-305=927 (+63)
T13.      Chattanooga (20)           303-317-307=927 (+63)
15.        Duke (23)          314-317-301=932 (+68)

Individual Results (Top 5 Plus Coastal Carolina)
1.         John Peterson (LSU)      71-73-70=214 (-2)
T2.        Zack Byrd (CCU)            71-70-75=216 (E)
T2.        Hunter Hamrick (Alabama)          72-72-72=216 (E)
T2.        Andrew Loupe (LSU)      73-70-73=216 (E)
5.         James Byrne (Arizona State)      68-73-77=218 (+2)

T24.      Tripp McAllister (CCU)    74-75-79=228 (+12)
T60.      Dan Obremski (CCU)      78-83-74=235 (+19)
T60.      Sam Lyons (CCU)          78-80-77=235 (+19)
82.        Steve Delmar (CCU)       87-84-75=246 (+30)