Centre senior Chris Morris won the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship Friday by four strokes and set a record four-round score of 14-under 280. The Colonels finished seventh overall in Greensboro, N.C., at the Grandover Resort.
"Winning this tournament is the biggest accomplishment of my career thus far. I can't be more thankful and appreciative of my coaches, teammates, friends and Centre College," the Mason County graduate said in a news release. "It feels like a storybook ending to my college career."
Morris received the Arnold Palmer Award for being the medalist and was named a Ping first-team All-American. The Nova Scotia, Canada, native who moved to Maysville when he was 6 took the lead after Wednesday's second round with a 7-under 65. He followed that with two rounds of 71 and easily held off Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Tain Lee, who won the tournament last year and set the previous record. Morris was four shots behind Lee in 2010.
On Friday, Morris started on the back nine and got himself in trouble with a triple bogey on the par-4 11th, which took a chunk out of his five-stroke lead. But he rallied with four birdies over the next seven holes to regain control.
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"Chris showed the heart of a champion after a tough start, and he deserves the title of champion," assistant coach Tom Campbell said.
Greensboro College took first place as a team with a 15-over 1167, 19 shots better than Centre's overall score. But the Colonels improved six spots from last year's 13th-place finish in Hershey, Pa.
Transylvania's Justin Tereshko was also named a first-team All-American, selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America. Transy was in a three-way tie for 14th place after Wednesday's round but missed the 15-team cut in a playoff. Tereshko was 19th individually after the first two rounds. Centre sophomore Grant Hinton of Elizabethtown made the third team after finishing in a tie for 20th Friday.
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