NINETY SIX, S.C. – Coastal Carolina won its unprecedented sixth consecutive Big South Conference Men’s Golf Championship and 11th League crown in 13 years following a final round of 308 on Wednesday, April 22 at The Patriot Golf Club at Grand Harbor (Par 72 - 7,079 yards) in Ninety Six, S.C.  The Chanticleers won the event by 31 strokes, the third-largest margin of victory in League history.  Liberty, which was last following Monday’s first round, continued its rally from Tuesday and finished second with a 922 – the Flames’ highest-ever finish in the Conference championship.

For the third straight day, the winds impacted play but unlike the first two rounds where it came up in the afternoon, the day started with wind gusts up to 30 mph.  Coastal Carolina redshirt-senior Zack Byrd, who entered the final round with a four-shot lead at 2-under par, shook off some early round problems and rallied in the closing holes to post a 79 and take home medalist honors for the first time this season.  Byrd finished the 54-hole tournament with a 5-over 221 to become just the second two-time individual champion in League history, as he was the championship medalist as a freshman in 2005.  He joins Winthrop’s Kevin Pendley (1997 and 1998) as multiple Conference champions.

Two Chanticleers tied for individual runner-up honors.  Sam Lyons carded a team-best 74 on Wednesday to finish at 224 (+8), while teammate David Dannelly – who entered the final round tied for second at 146, finished with a 78 in the final round to equal Lyons’ final score of 224.  In fact, Coastal Carolina placed all five players in the top six, as Drew Ernst tied for fourth at 225 and Tripp McAllister tied for sixth at 226.

High Point’s D.J. Dougherty, who also entered the final round tied for second at 146, shot a 79 to tie Ernst for fourth-place at 225.  Charleston Southern’s Herve Gevers was the lone player to shot under par on Wednesday, as he carded a 1-under 71 to finish tied for sixth at 226.  Liberty’s Preston Dembowiak also finished at 226.  Winthrop’s Kelly Manders (ninth, 227) and Gardner-Webb’s Immu Korvenmaa (10th, 229) round out the top 10 individual finishers.

Gardner-Webb, which was in second-place after each round, posted a team aggregate score of 319 Wednesday to drop to third-place at 926, just one stroke ahead of fourth-place Winthrop (927).  Radford finished in fifth-place with a 928, while Charleston Southern and High Point officially tied for sixth-place with identical scores of 942.  Presbyterian tallied a 323 on Wednesday and finished with a 54-hole total of 938.  However, the Blue Hose are not eligible for the Conference championship and its team and individual results do not officially count in the standings due to its continuing transition to Division I.

Dannelly, Dougherty, Ernst, Gevers, McAllister and Dembowiak all earned a spot on the Big South All-Conference team with their Championship finish, joining Byrd, Lyons, Robert Karlsson, Kelvin Day and Tobias Pettersson, who were voted to the team based on regular-season play.  Byrd also led the field with 16 birdies, followed by Gevers’ 12 and Dougherty’s 11. 

Coastal Carolina is the first team in Big South history to place all five competitors on the All-Conference team, and also the first men’s golf program to produce three consecutive individual medalists (Dustin Johnson in 2007, Dannelly in 2008 and Byrd in 2009).  The Chanticleers will now await their NCAA Regional assignment at one of six locations in the nation.  The Regionals will be conducted May 14-16, 2009.  Below are the final team and individual results in .pdf format.