Vols Finish 9th at SEC Championship

April 17, 2016 | Men's Golf

April 17, 2016

Team Leaderboard | Player Leaderboard | Pairings

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.-- Tennessee finished ninth after shooting a team 297 in the final round of the 2016 SEC Championship at Sea Island Golf Club Sunday.

Team Scores

1. Georgia: 277-291-285--853 (+13)
2. Texas A&M: 287-283-286--856 (+16)
T3. Florida: 285-290-286--861 (+21)
T3. Arkansas: 288-283-290--861 (+21)
5. LSU: 294-286-284--864 (+24)
6. Auburn: 291-283-291--865 (+25)
7. Kentucky 277-289-302--868 (+28)
8. Vanderbilt: 286-294-294--874 (+34)
9. Tennessee: 286-292-297--875 (+35)
10. South Carolina: 292-294-293--879 (+39)
11. Alabama: 294-292-294--880 (+40)
12. Missouri: 289-292-300--881 (+41)
13. Mississippi: 301-298-289--888 (+48)
14. Mississippi State: 304-298-293--895 (+55)

Individual Scores

1. Lee McCoy (Georgia): 68-70-69--207 (-3)
2. Tyler McDaniel (Kentucky): 70-70-69--209 (-1)
3. Matt Gilchrest (Auburn): 68-71-71--210 (E)

Tennessee Scores

T13. Lorenzo Scalise: 72-71-74--217 (+7)
T18. Chad Merzbacher: 70-70-78--218 (+8)
T49. Michael Nagy: 70-81-73--224 (+14)
T52. Nicklas Mattner: 78-74-73--225 (+15)
T64. Jack Smith: 74-77-77--228 (+18)

Georgia was crowned SEC champion after finishing 13-over, three strokes ahead of Texas A&M. Georgia's Lee McCoy, the No. 6 player in the nation, took the individual title after finishing 3-under.

Lorenzo Scalise fired a 4-over 74 that included two birdies in the final round. The sophomore shot a 7-over 217 for the tournament and placed in a tie for 13th. Scalise ended with the best Volunteer score for the second consecutive SEC Championship. In last year's event, he finished in a tie for 27th at 2-over. The Italian recorded his fourth top 20 finish of the season at the conference championship.

"I played pretty solid this week," Scalise said. "The wind was around 20-25 mph every day, so you really needed to make no mistakes to go under par. If I look at my scorecard, holes 5 and 14 cost me a lot of shots, and that was the only difference between the leaders and me. My short game really helped me this week, which should help going into Regionals next month."

Senior Chad Merzbacher finished his final SEC Championship in a tie for 18th after carding an 8-over 218 for the tournament. Merzbacher added another top 20 finish with the result, finishing the regular season with eight top 20 finishes and six top 10 finishes.

Michael Nagy bounced back from Saturday's play with a final round 3-over 73 that included a team-high five birdies. The Manistique, Michigan, native finished the championship with a 14-over 224, placing in a tie for 49th.

Nicklas Mattner, who competed in his first SEC Championship, carded a 3-over 73 in the final round and finished the tournament with good rhythm, playing 2-under over the last eight holes. The freshman finished 15-over and tied for 52nd.

Junior Jack Smith shot a 7-over 77 in Sunday's round and finished 18-over for the tournament, placing in a tie for 64th.

The NCAA will select its participants for the 2016 Division I Men's Golf Championships in early May. The championship begins May 16.