Special Report from App State Sports. BURLINGTON, N.C. — With a Hall of Famer on hand and a hat trick at the turn, App State Men’s Golf surged to a third-place finish at the 17-team Elon Phoenix Invitational on Tuesday.
The first fall season under the direction of head coach Alan Cress concluded at Alamance Country Club with an appearance by volunteer assistant Sam Adams, who excelled as an App State All-American in the 1960s before joining the PGA Tour and later serving as the Mountaineers’ head coach.
Addison Beam tied for fourth place with an 8-under total (72-68-65—205) over 54 holes, and Lukas Jönsson tied for sixth place with a 6-under total (69-68-70—207).
Beam’s final-round 65 on the par-71 layout included a 7-under 29 on the back nine, highlighted by a 6-under stretch on the first five holes after he made the turn. He holed out from the rough on a 185-yard approach for an eagle at the par-4 13th hole.
Beam headed to the 10th tee box at 1 over for his round and nearly hit his drive out of bounds. Fortunate to give himself a birdie look from 30 feet, Beam drained it after his father, James, and fellow spectator David Vaughn turned their hats backward.
For the rest of the round, Beam’s dad (in a gold App State hat) and Vaughn (in a lime green App State hat) maintained their “rally cap” look. Beam totaled the one eagle and five birdies on the final nine holes, settling for a birdie on the 17th hole after he missed a 4-foot eagle putt.
App State was in 15th place after 18 holes in Burlington, but strong second rounds from Colin Browning (5-under 66), Beam (68), Jönsson (68) and redshirt freshman Josh Buxbaum (69 in his second-ever round in the Mountaineers’ lineup) produced a 13-under team score of 271.
The second team round in program history with four scores in the 60s — the only other instance occurred during a program-record 270 to open this fall season — allowed App State to climb 11 spots in the team standings. The final-round 281 included Beam’s 65, Jönsson’s 70, Browning’s 73 and a 73 from true freshman Cole Bergheim, another first-team starter.
App State finished one stroke ahead of fourth-place William & Mary, two strokes ahead of fifth-place Lafayette and three strokes ahead of sixth-place Queens in a tight race for third. Elon won with a 28-under total, followed by Stetson at 23 under.
Individually, the top three finishers were Elon’s Garrett Risner (14 under), Elon’s Bronson Myers (13 under) and Radford’s Bryce Corbett (10 under).
