FLORENCE, S.C.---The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s golf team captured its third straight Southern Conference Championship in dramatic fashion at the Country Club of South Carolina Tuesday afternoon.  A final round 286 provided a two-stroke cushion over Georgia Southern.

GSU’s Drew Lethem shot a second straight 72 to claim medalist honors with a six-under par total of 210.  Chattanooga’s Fredrik Qvicker tied for second a shot back at five-under par 211 with Western Carolina’s Tanner Briele.

Both the Mocs and Eagles got off to good starts on the day with Chattanooga extending its lead on the front nine to five strokes shooting five-under par to GSU’s minus four.  It became a two-team race at that point as Western Carolina moved up to third place, but it was 14 shots off the pace.

Through 12 holes, the Mocs advantage was cut to four as Chattanooga stood at 15-under par to the Eagles minus 11.  Qvicker moved into first place individually at seven-under par with Lethem a stroke back at minus six.

Georgia Southern made a strong move to tie it up through 15 holes.  As the Mocs fell back two shots to 12-under par, the Eagles moved to 12-under par to bring a lot of drama into three strong finishing holes as Lethem moved back ahead of Qvicker after Qvicker’s double bogey on 14.

With the final two groups on the final two holes, Chattanooga trailed by two shots.  Qvicker and Derek Rende topped their Eagle counterparts (Lethem and Logan Blondell) over the final two holes to win the title.

Chattanooga finished the three-day event at 12-under par 852.  The Eagles’ 854 (-10) was two shots back followed by Western Carolina at even-par 864.

Four Mocs finished in the top 10 led by Qvicker.  SoCon Freshman of the Year Stephan Jaeger tied for fifth at 213 (-3), while Ben Rickett and Rende tied for eighth at 214 (-2).  Jonathan Hodge tied for 42nd at 230 (+14).

The Mocs win the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals to be played May 14-16 at a site to be determined.

NOTES

>Chattanooga front nine scores this week:  E/-5/-5=-10.  Back nine:  -9/+4/+3=-2.

>Three Mocs finished the day under par led by Qvicker’s 70 (-2).  Rickett and Jaeger shot 71s (-1).

>Jaeger shot all three rounds under par with 71s.  He was the lone Mocs golfer to score the feat.  Qvicker did not have an over-par round, but his second round was level-par 72.

>The Mocs won their fourth title (1987, 2007, 2008, 2009).

>Chattanooga golfers on the All-SoCon Team:  Stephan Jaeger, Derek Rende, Ben Rickett.

>Southern Conference Freshman of the Year Stephan Jaeger.  The last freshman of the year for the Mocs was Rende in 2007.