DULUTH, Ga. - Mercer sophomore Trey Rule fired a 70 (-1) in Tuesday's final round of the AutoTrader.com Classic at Berkeley Hills Country Club to help the men's golf team to a third place finish on the team leaderboard. Junior James Beale took home the team's best individual finish, tying for eighth place overall with a three-round total of 216.
As a team, Mercer shot 289 on Tuesday to complete the tournament with a three-round total of 874. At the conclusion, the Bears were just eight strokes behind Georgia State for second place while Georgia Southern (859) captured the team title.
"Obviously to finish third is nice, we had a shot at second, but Georgia State just played slightly better than us over the last five holes," head coach Steve Bradley said. "Our guys have come a long way over the past six week from Kiawah Island to now. Trey's tie for 11th finish was his career-best, James had another top-10 finish and Hans played solid for the second-straight tournament."
Mercer's combined team score of 874 bested a pair of nationally ranked squads (#7 Georgia and #49 Chattanooga) and two Atlantic Sun Conference rivals (Kennesaw State and Jacksonville).
The Bears have now compiled three-straight top 10 finishes as a squad, placing tied for fifth in the Ram Masters Invitational on Sept. 18, sixth in the Brickyard Collegiate on Oct. 7 and now third in the AutoTrader.com Classic.
Aside from Rule and Beale, redshirt junior Hans Reimers finished in a tie for 17th at the event with a three-round total of 220, while freshman Jeffrey Heinicka carded a 225 (T-31st) and senior Thomas Holmes fired a 229 (T-50th) for the tournament.
"Overall very happy with our play in this tournament and happy with the fall and how we've gotten better," Bradley said. "Guys have a competitive fire now and after we take a couple weeks off we will get right back after it in the offseason trying to get ready for the spring."
Mercer is now finished with its fall schedule and will take a few months off before resuming play in the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational at the Sawgrass Country Club on Feb. 24, 2013.