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Gallman Shoots 64 To Finish 2nd In Southern Open
Kannapolis, N.C. – Former USC Upstate golfer and Gaffney, S.C., native Josh Gallman graduated in May as the owner of the program's all-time single-round record of 66. As a pro, Gallman has lowered his personal-best round by two strokes, firing a 64 in the final round of the Southern Open on the eGolf Tour, vaulting out of a tie for fifth to finish second at 17-under-par, one stroke out of first place.
Playing in his first tournament on the eGolf Tour, Gallman, who graduated in May after turning in a stellar career at Upstate, was simply on fire Saturday. After starting off with two pars, he birdied seven of the next 11 holes and finished with his second straight round without a bogey to finish with a 7-under 64. He started the day in a tie for fifth, but his stellar play enabled him to move up three spots on the leaderboard to finish in second place, one shot back of tournament winner Jhared Hack (-18).
With the strong finish, Gallman picked up the biggest paycheck of his young career, earning over $18,000 for his second-place effort. After turning pro in May, he has certainly proven to be a capable player. He has won three events on the Carolina Mountain Tour, finished seventh and eighth in two events on the Hooters Carolina Summer Series Tour, and has now finished second on his first tournament playing on the eGolf Tour, one of the premiere mini-tours in the Southeast.
Gallman made the cut after opening rounds of 71 and 66 on Wednesday and Thursday. He stood in a tie for 17th at 5-under-par heading into the third round on Friday. He fired his second straight 66 Friday to move into a tie for fifth at 10-under, setting up his run to battle for the championship on Saturday. He finished the tournament with 21 birdies, including 15 in the last 42 holes without a bogey.
The eGolf Tour is based out of Charlotte, N.C., and conducts tournaments within a four-hour dive of the "Queen City" with stops as far south as Savannah, Ga., and as far north as Charlottesville, Va. The tour is designed to prepare golfers for the PGA Q-School in the fall. The tour pays the Q-School entry fee for the top 20 golfers on the eGolf money list at the end of the year. Last year, Scott Brown, who played collegiately against Upstate at USC Aiken, finished atop the money list with $142,362 in earnings.
Gallman finished his career at Upstate as the program's all-time top golfer. He owns every career, season and single-round record at Upstate, including career numbers of seven tournament wins, 21 top five finishes, 33 top 10 efforts and a 72.7 stroke average. He was a two-time winner of Upstate's Male Student-Athlete of the Year, a three-time all-conference selection in the A-Sun, a two-time member of the Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar team selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America, and earned ESPN The Magazine Third Team Academic America honors. He graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in business marketing out of the George Dean Johnson, Jr., College of Business.
