Darton golfers finish fourth at Hurricane Invitational

ALBANY — It wasn’t the finish Darton State College men’s golf coach Gary Hilton was looking for.

The Cavaliers entered Tuesday’s final round of the Georgia Southwestern Hurricane Invitational with a one stroke lead, but Darton shot a 308 in the final round to finish fourth after a three-round total of 909 (299-302-308) at the Doublegate Country Club.

North Georgia won the tournament after shooting a 293 on Tuesday, finishing at 895 (306-296-293), 14 strokes ahead of the Cavaliers. Host Georgia Southwestern finished second at 901 (305-299-297), while Belmont Abbey College finished third at 908 (310-299-299), one stroke ahead of Darton.

Georgia Southwestern’s Ethan Chamineak won the tournament with a 215 (73-70-72), while Darton’s Finlay Mason finished in a four-way tie for second at 220. Mason led by a stroke before the final round after shooting a 70 and 71 on Monday. However, he shot a 79 on Tuesday.

“Finlay didn’t play his best today, but he will be back,” Darton coach Gary Hilton said. “Hopefully, we’ll all get back on track.”

Hilton said he plans to give the team the rest of the week off before they return for the Region 17 tournament that begins Monday at the Sunset Country Club in Moultrie. The tournament features 36 holes on Monday with 18 set for Tuesday.

“We’re going to get back after it and hopefully make a little noise,” Hilton said.

Among other Darton golfers, Josh Robertson finished seventh at 224 (74-74-76), Hunter Tidwell finished 21st at 234 (79-79-76), Rob Simpson finished 22nd at 235 (80-75-80), Bailey Ulp finished tied for 23rd at 236 (81-78-77), while Harrison Mohr finished in a tie for 31st at 239 (76-83-80).

“We had a great opportunity to win three straight tournaments and had a one shot lead heading into Tuesday,” Hilton said. “But we let things slip away. We didn’t play our best golf today.”