March 13, 2011

Hopper Leads Spartans at General Hackler Championship

Murrells Inlet, S.C. – Gaffney native Matthew Hopper shot rounds of 77 and 74 to lead the USC Upstate men's golf team at the General Hackler Championship Sunday afternoon at the TPC of Myrtle Beach. The Spartans stand 12^th in the field of 17 teams.

The General Hackler Championship is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the Southeast with seven teams in the top 50 in the Golfstat ranking, including defending national champion Augusta State. Upstate stands 12^th after shooting 306 and 313 for a 619 total. The Spartans are ahead of 22^nd-ranked Wake Forest (622).

Seventeenth-ranked Virginia takes the lead into the final round on Monday. The Cavaliers shot rounds of 288 and 295 for a 583 total. Tennessee and Coastal Carolina are tied for second at 584 and are followed by Auburn (597), Augusta State (597), Pepperdine (598), East Carolina (599), East Tennessee State (600), North Florida (604), College of Charleston (607), Lamar (608), Upstate (619), Wake Forest (622), Charleston Southern (628), Presbyterian College (631), Gardner-Webb (647) and Western Carolina (653).

Upstate was eighth after the first round and despite raising its score by just seven strokes in the second round, fell four positions on the leaderboard.

Hopper was in position to shoot even-par in the second round, but a double bogey on No. 18 pushed his score to 74. It was three strokes better than his opening round.

Brad Sill (Spartanburg, S.C.) is tied for 31^st with a 152 total after turning in rounds of 74 and 78. Nelson Dickson (Spartanburg, S.C.) had a solid first day. He shot rounds of 75 and 78 (153) and stands tied for 33^rd.

Brian Horton (Boiling Springs, S.C.) turned in rounds of 80 and 83 for a 163 total and is tied for 79^th. Adam Goins (Gaffney, S.C.), who is coming off a 7-under-par effort in winning the Caribbean Intercollegiate on Wednesday, shot rounds of 81 and 84 on Sunday.

Lamar's Kevin Hesbois opened with rounds of 75 and 65 to take the individual lead in the tournament. He owns a 140 total (-4) and leads by two strokes.