LEXINGTON, Ky. (October 8, 2024) – The University of North Alabama men's golf team finished the Cullan Brown Collegiate in Lexington, Ky. on Tuesday, where they finished second overall behind former ASUN member Kennesaw State. Sophomore Andrew Ferworn shared the individual win with Kennesaw State's Claes Borregaard.
On a difficult course, Ferworn finished the tournament with a five-over-par 218-stroke score after three rounds. He totaled nine birdies on the weekend while finishing each of the first nine holes under par or even.
Ferworn was one of only eight players to shoot par or better in a round, carding a 71 in the second round. Only two golfers carded a 70 to finish one below par on the difficult par-71 course.
"This is a big win for Andrew, and we are proud of his week," said head coach Austin Phillips. "This was a really good field, and he played some really good golf. He didn't have his best stuff, but he held it together at the end to pull out the shared win."
Ferworn ended round one tied for second with his partner junior Sebastian Bengtsson, as well. He jumped to first in the second round and then kept his pace throughout the rest of the two days. His previous-highest finish came in seventh in the 2024 Savannah Intercollegiate.
The Lions ran out of daylight on day one to close out the second round. They picked up with juniors Xing Luo and Blake Henriques completing their final hole before continuing into the third round this morning. The Lions finished the second round in third place, the first time this season that they have not led a round. They trailed Kennesaw State and Kentucky's A-team with 292 and 297 stroke scores, respectively.
Bengtsson finished the weekend with a 222 score to tie in the 10th spot. Luo follows at 33 with a 228, while Henriques and junior Corey Maher tie in 61st with a 235 score. Bengtsson floated around the top-10 range all weekend, as high as second overall and as low as 13th. He also nabbed five birdies to end the day.
KSU led the field with an overall scorecard of 881, which was 14 strokes better than the rest of the field. The Lions edged out the hometown team in Kentucky "A" by one stroke for second place with an 895 team score. South Alabama and Toledo tied for fourth to round out the top-five with a score of 897.
There were 15 teams in the field.
"It wasn't our best week this week," said head coach Austin Phillips. "We persevered at the end to pull out a good result. We have a good opportunity next week to bounce back, and we will be ready to go."
Last season, the Lions had three top-three placements for the 2023-24 season with two wins under Phillips. This season, UNA already has one win this fall and two top-three placements with today's result. One of the wins from last season came at the MartinFed Invitational at Turtle Point — and North Alabama will play this course again next week.
Next Monday, North Alabama hosts its annual Turtle Point Invite at the Turtle Point Yacht & Country Club in Killen, Ala. The tournament begins Oct. 14 and will conclude Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Cullan Brown Collegiate
Lexington County Club
Team Leaderboard - First Round Official
1. Kennesaw State 881
2. North Alabama 895
3. Kentucky A 896
T4. South Alabama 897
T4. Toledo 897
T6. Kentucky B 902
T6. Mercer 902
8. Eastern Kentucky 907
9. Western Kentucky 910
10. Purdue Fort Wayne 913
11. Chattanooga 922
12. Belmont 929
13. Morehead State 930
14. Bellarmine 931
15. Evansville 950
North Alabama Golfers - First Round Official
T1. Andrew Ferworn 218 | +5
T10. Sebastian Bengtsson 222 | +9
T33. Xing Luo 228 | +12
T61. Blake Henriques 235 | +22
T61. Corey Maher 235 | +22
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
