VALDOSTA, Ga. — The Catawba College men's golf team concluded its 2025-26 campaign with a 17th-place finish at the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional on Saturday at Valdosta Country Club.
No. 16 Nova Southeastern topped a field of 11 higher-ranked programs to claim the regional title with a 24-under-par 840. Top-ranked West Florida, the leader through 36 holes, fell to the runner-up position as No. 6 Georgia Southwestern retained its third-place position to round out the podium. No. 2 Lee, No. 4 Florida Southern, No. 10 Columbus State, and No. 3 Wingate also made the cut for national championship berths.
Cooper Tendick of UWF, who entered the day in the pole position, posted his third straight round in the 60s to pocket individual medalist honors with a 15-under 201. Lee's Drew Zielinski finished tied for second with NSU's Bruno Marques whose 5-under day helped key the Sharks' third-round surge. Also advancing to the national site will be Octavio Laurent of USC Beaufort, who shot a field-best 66 on Saturday, and Gabriel Hull of Emmanuel as the top-five finishers qualified for individual bids.
RESULTS
T51. Alec Barker (220, +4)
T63. Paul Esnault (223, +7)
T63. Allan Lockwood (223, +7)
T69. Maxence Bonnet (224, +8)
102. Pranay Kapur (235, +19)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Barker started 1-under through five before closing the back nine on a sour note, steadying on the front side but going without a birdie for a 75 to slot just inside the top half of the field
- Bonnet birdied the first hole he faced – No. 12 – and had a streak of nine pars during a solid third round, then got tripped up by two bogeys before the turn to also chalk up a 75
- Esnault opened the round on fire with four straight birdies from the 11th to the 14th holes; at 1-under with three holes to go, the junior went five strokes over to close out a 76-shot finale
- Lockwood, the third Catawba Indian to begin with a bird, went even on the back nine ahead of a tough six-hole streak of bogeys on the front, but he eagled No. 9 to add silver lining on a 76
- Kapur showed similar stability on the back with a par split, but two pairs of bogeys on the front nine kept the sophomore at his two-round position with a third-round 76
FINAL NOTES
- The 2025-26 team dominantly set new program records in stroke average (290.42 in 33 rounds), rounds in the 60s (21), under-par rounds (55) and par-or-better rounds (85), nearly doubling the previous marks in the latter three categories
- Esnault now holds the rounds in a season record, competing in 36, as well as the under-par rounds record of 14 while sharing the par-or-better record of 19 with Ilia Antoniadis
- Seven of the nine players on the roster registered stroke averages that place inside the program's Top 25 list
