- College Tour X photo

College TOUR X concluded the south Alabama winter swing with the Port City ChampionshipDecember 17-19 in Mobile, Ala. The contestants faced a tough lay-out at RTJ Magnolia Grove’s CrossingsCourse with gritty, cold conditions. None the less, College TOUR X saw another solid field of amateur’slook to sharpen their games prior to the Christmas holiday.

University of South Alabama junior, Jordan Plunkett fired a moving day 2 under par round to claim thelead. Senior teammate Mathias Lorentzen sat 3 strokes back in second place. However, during the earlystages of the final round, Tennessee Tech’s stand-out junior, Chance Taylor, was the one making all thenoise. Taylor fired an opening nine 33 to tie Plunkett at the top.

A back nine battle then ensued with Plunkett carding three birdies of his own. All square into the finalhole, Taylor saw his wayward tee shot take an emphatic ricochet off the tree line to find a penalty area.From there, Plunkett was able to secure a hard-fought victory with a closing par. Taylor finished 2 shotsback as runner-up with Lorentzen claiming third. Post round, Plunkett exclaimed, “It was so much funout there. Chance was lighting it up, and I knew we were in for a special day”.

The women’s division provided no less drama as Middle Tennessee State’s Lauren Gilchrist took acommanding lead through the first two rounds. The junior powered ahead with a 1 under par openingnine on moving day and slept on a 6-shot lead over University of West GA sophomore Ainsley Cowart.Cowart proved game in the final round with a barrage of pars while Gilchrist leaked strokes early.

Gilchrist found herself ahead by a shot but in the greenside bunker on 18 while competitor Cowartstalked a close-range birdie putt. After the round, Gilchrist explained. “I just wanted to get that bunkershot close and below the hole to save par”. Gilchrist did even better, as she holed the bunker shot forbirdie. In her second start, Gilchrist captured her first College TOUR X championship. Cowart finished avaliant runner-up with Southern Miss sophomore Ashlie Howard-Hobbs in third.

College TOUR X closes out the first half of the 2020-21 wrap-around season January 4-6 with theSNOWBIRD Classic @ Mission Inn Resort on the famed El Campeon Course. The field is stacked, and wejust may be treated to another barn burner of a finish.

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