By MONTE DUTTON
Augusta National is hell in heaven.
It’s Oz, complete with witches both good and wicked flitting about.
It seemed as if the first- and second-place finishers, Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Aberg, were the only players on the course who seemed to be enjoying himself.
Tiger Woods was a noble veteran of many wars, his face mostly frozen in a death mask.
That mask spread on Sunday. The guys who succeeded were the ones who looked unflappable (Scheffler) and happy (Aberg).
Scheffler is 27. I wasn’t old enough to play golf until a year or two before I stopped, when I learned to have a good time without caring how I played. I stopped because I reached the point where I had a better time playing guitar than golf. Plus, it’s cheaper.
Of course, I never shot 66. I never shot 86. Once I shot 41 for nine, which was a bigger miracle than the 1969 New York Mets. I discovered the trick for me was not to care how I played, only not so much that I stopped paying attention.
That’s golf’s best recruiting tool. Anyone who can play a little thinks he can relate to those who can play a lot.
Anna Morgan (-2) fired a 2-under 70 Sunday to lead the Furman (+7) women’s golf team in the opening day of the Southern Conference Women’s Golf Championship at the par-72, 6,036-yard Moss Creek Golf Club’s South Course in Hilton Head Island.
The Paladins, who are seeking their 20th overall and third-straight SoCon title, sit two strokes out of first, alone in second behind ETSU (+5).
Samford (+14) is in third place, followed by Western Carolina (+17) in fourth place.
A senior from Spartanburg, Morgan birdied Nos. 6 and 8 to turn at 1-over. She birdied three straight from Nos. 10-12 and added a final birdie on 16. Morgan holds a 2-stroke lead over four players at even par.
Furman has four players among the top 17, including freshman Audrey Ryu (E), who is tied for second after recording an even 72 with birdies on Nos. 1 and 15.
Senior Caroline Crumrine (+4) carded a 76 to tie for 11th, and junior Alise Knudson (+5) is tied for 17th after a 77.
The 54-hole tournament continues on Monday. The winner of the tournament will earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, while the individual champion will also earn automatic regional qualification. The NCAA field will be announced live on the Golf Channel on Wed., April 24, at 2 p.m.
Junior Elijah Poritzky’s victory at the top singles position helped the men’s tennis team to a 4-3 Southern Conference victory over the Mercer Bears on the road.
The win, Furman’s seventh straight over Mercer dating back to the 2018 season, improves the Paladins to 12-11 overall and 5-2 in the SoCon. The Bears drop to 7-12 and 4-3.
Furman clinches the No. 3 seed in next week’s SoCon Men’s Tennis Championship and will face sixth-seeded Wofford (7-11, 2-5 SoCon) in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, at Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Poritzky’s win, his seventh of the season, capped off singles play with both teams capturing three matches apiece. Mercer won the first two contests before John Rado earned his seventh win of the year at No. 4 when he defeated Samuel Barrow in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. The Bears answered with a victory in the No. 5 match before Thomas Kennedy and Poritzky closed out the match with back-to-back wins for the Paladins. Kennedy, playing at No. 2, topped Lucas Dini in straight sets for his 10th victory this season, 7-6(4), 6-2. Poritzky secured the match following a 7-6(4), 6-3 triumph versus Nemanja Stefanovic.
Furman opened the match by clinching the opening point with doubles wins at Nos. 1 and 3. Mercer started with a victory at No. 2 before the No. 1 duo of Kennedy and Poritzky won, 6-4, over Dini and Andrew Branicki for their team leading 10th victory of the season. Cole Burnam and Connor Laymon collected their second consecutive win to claim the point for the Paladins after defeating Barrow and Samuel MacLeod in a tiebreaker 7-6(4).
In the battle of the Southern Conference’s unbeaten teams, 64th-ranked ETSU slipped past Furman women’s tennis, 4-3, Saturday at Dave Mullins Tennis Complex in Johnson City, Tenn., to claim the Southern Conference regular-season title.
Down 3-0, the Paladins rallied to tie the score with three singles victories before Sofia Markova defeated junior Sara Snyder, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 7-6(6), at flight one to clinch the win. Snyder, who was down 5-2 in the third set, won four-straight games to lead, 6-5, before falling in the tiebreaker.
With the loss, Furman drops to 10-12 overall and 6-1 in the SoCon and earns the No. 2 seed in next weekend’s league tournament. The Paladins play the No. 7 seed Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in the opening round.
ETSU is 13-7 and 7-0 in the SoCon and is No. 1 seed in the championship tournament.
Hannah Dintino became Furman’s all-time leading goal scorer on Saturday after combining with Anna Roser and Sophie Shaw to lift lacrosse to a 16-9 Big South Conference victory over Winthrop in Rock Hill.
Furman, which has won five straight in the series over Winthrop, improves to 6-8 overall and 4-1 in the Big South. Winthrop drops to 1-12 and 1-5.
The trio of Roser, Dintino, and Shaw combined for 13 of the Paladins’ 16 goals on the afternoon, led by Roser’s game high five. Dintino and Shaw both scored four while Shaw added an assist.
Paige Harman provided four points on two goals and two assists and Reynolds Hester totaled a goal and assist. Sophia Buzelis also dished out an assist to go with five draws.
In goal, Lily Rathbun recorded nine saves and six ground balls.
Katie Witmer, Claire Witmer, and Ellie Dutton all compiled three points to lead the Eagles offensively. Katie Witmer scored a hat trick while Dutton added two goals and an assist. Claire Witmer led the team with two assists and had one goal. Goalie Emma Calhoun finished with nine saves, two ground balls, and one caused turnover.
Furman plays its final road game of the season on Wednesday, traveling to Longwood for a 6 p.m. opening draw against the Lancers.
Furman scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead and held on to down Samford, 7-6, in the finale of a three-game SoCon softball series on Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.
With the victory, Furman snapped an eight-game league losing skid and improved to 19-23 overall and 4-8. Samford had its five-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 14-26 and 7-5.
With one out and the game tied at 5-5 in the bottom of sixth, senior Chloe Fabio worked walk against Samford reliever McKenzie Newcomb. Ashlee Lykins followed with her third hit of the day, a single down the left-field line. Newcomb threw three pitches to Paladin designated player Caitlin Goldwait before exiting the game with an apparent injury.
Jordyn Partain came on in relief to retire Goldwait on a grounder that put two runners in scoring position, but a wild pitch allowed Fabio to cross the plate with the go-ahead run. Sylvia Burroughs followed with a double down the left field line to drive in Lykins and extend the Furman lead to 7-5.
Emme Buzhardt (2-3) picked up the victory despite allowing two runs on three hits over 1-2/3 innings of work. Newcomb (3-3), who surrendered two runs on a hit and a walk while retiring one batter, suffered the loss for Samford.
McKenzie Newcomb and Jordyn Partain each tossed complete-game shutouts to lead Samford to a 5-0, 6-0 doubleheader sweep on Saturday.
Furman concludes its regular season non-conference schedule on Wednesday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader at Queens in Charlotte, N.C.
Furman won three women’s events Saturday at the Electric City Invitational at Anderson University.
The Paladins took gold in the 800 meters, mile, and 5,000 meters. Senior Megan Marvin took the tile in the 800, crossing the line in 2:07.44.
Furman claimed the top eight spots in the women’s mile. Senior Abigail Robertson won the event with a time of 4:49.30.
Junior Lily Feingold won the 5,000 with a personal-best time of 16:51.50, and sophomore Emma Jones was second at 17:36.67.
On the men’s side, Furman placed three runners among the top 10 in the mile, as sophomore Luke Taylor finished sixth with a time of 4:10.09, while freshman Owen Shifflett captured eighth place at 4:15.80. Freshman Chris Knight placed ninth with a time of 4:17.13.
The Paladins compete at the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Friday.
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