PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. – Charleston Southern men's golf picked the perfect opportunity to play its best round of the season, using a 7-under par 281 to blow past the field and take a one-shot victory over conference mate Gardner-Webb to claim the program's first tournament title of the season at the Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Intercollegiate at the True Blue Golf Club in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

FIRST IN OVER A YEAR
The team championship is the first for the Buccaneers since they claimed the 2021 Pinnacle Bank Intercollegiate in Hilton Head. Two members of that squad – Ben Carroll and Alan Smith – helped shape this week's winners, as well.

TEAM SCORES
The 1-under 863 cumulative score is the Bucs' best by 14 strokes, this season, while the 1-under par is 17 strokes better in relation to par. The final-round 281 and 7-under are the tops in overall rounds during the 2021-22 campaign. It was the best finishing 18-hole effort by 11 strokes over a 292 at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate and a 13-stroke improvement from the +6, 294 during final-round action at the season-opening Graeme McDowell Intercollegiate in September 2021.

SMITH CAPS CAREER TOURNAMENT
Alan Smith put together the best tournament of his CSU career, finishing with a 70-72-69—211 (-5) to tie for third on the individual leaderboard. The 69 and -3 in the final 18 holes tie his lowest efforts for a career round, while he had never scored better than the 211 and 5-under par totals. The tie for third is his best career finish, as well.

Smith had no trouble finding the hole, as he carded an eagle on the par-5, 548-yard No. 9 and then added six birdies to his performance, dropping them in on the par-3, 160-yard No. 3; par-4, 548-yard No. 4; par-3, 165-yard No. 7; par-4, 407-yard No. 12; par-4, 410-yard No. 13 and par-5, 590-yard No. 15.

TARVER RECORDS BEST ROUND OF CAREER; SECOND BEST IN TOURNAMENT
A 66 on anyone's scorecard is one to remember, especially for freshman Griffin Tarver in Wednesday's final round on his way to tying for 13th. His 17-place jump was the largest of any individual in the field and it was boosted by eight birdies despite being the only Buccaneers player to not score under par on No. 9. He tallied birdies on consecutive holes three times, No. 1 and No. 2; No. 5 and No. 6; and No. 10 and No. 11. He also did so on No. 8 and No. 15 as part of his first collegiate round in the 60s, a four-stroke improvement from his previous-low 18-hole total.

WILLIS KEPT CHARGING ON
Ethan Willis continued to recover from a slow first round, lowering his score during each of the final-two rounds, culminating in a 70 Wednesday. He finished the tournament at 2-over 218, tying for 11th as the second Charleston Southern player in the club house. He matched Smith with the eagle on No. 9 before garnering four birdies, on the par-4, 382-yard No. 8; par-5, 584-yard No. 10; No. 15 and the par-4, 425-yard No. 18. He contributed 10 pars, split evenly between the nines in his best effort since his first event wearing the blue and gold, the Graeme McDowell Intercollegiate.

CARROLL SLIPS BACK; TIES WILLIS
Although Wednesday's final-round 76 was his highest 18-hole total of the tournament, Ben Carroll still finished in a tie for 11th overall with Willis after he played a 71-71-76—218 throughout the week. Carroll's final round included two birdies, on No. 5 and No. 9, and a team-best stretch of six-consecutive pars from No. 11 through No. 16. Carroll added five more birdies on the front nine to attain his second-straight Top-15 individual finish and third overall of the campaign.

LOUDIN IS THIRD TO EAGLE NO. 9
The final hole of the front nine continued to be friendly to the Bucs, as Caleb Loudin joined Smith and Willis as those who recorded an eagle. Loudin dropped in birdies on the par-4, 424-yard No. 5 and on No. 10 and included a five-hole span of pars, from No. 13-17, in his final round. He finished with 10 pars overall during the 18-hole stretch as his overall 12-over 228 was his best in relation to par of the campaign.

UP NEXT
Charleston Southern returns to action one last time in the regular season, heading in to Spartanburg, April 11-12, for the Wofford Intercollegiate at the Country Club of Spartanburg before the Big South Championships.

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN INDIVIDUALS
T3. Alan Smith, -5 (70-72-69—211)
T11. Ben Carroll, +2 (71-71-76—218)
T11. Ethan Willis, +2 (77-71-70—218)
T13. Griffin Tarver, +3 (76-77-66—219)
T34. Caleb Loudin, +12 (75-76-77—228)

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Charleston Southern, -1 (292-290-281—863)
2. Gardner-Webb, E (288-290-286—864)
3. North Dakota State, +7 (285-303-283—871)
4. Jacksonville State, +12 (285-300-291—876)
T5. Ohio, +14 (294-294-290—878)
T5. Marshall, +14 (296-300-282—878)
7. High Point, +21 (295-301-289—885)
8. Xavier, +24 (294-304-290—888)
9. St. Thomas (Minn.), +39 (302-308-293—903)