RUTLEDGE, Ga.- Dave Wilkinson was the tournament medalist at the Creek at Hard Labor State Park in the Scots second tournament of the Spring season. Wilkinson recorded back to back 72's for an even par tournament score of 144, edging out Clifton Barton of Piedmont by one stroke. The Scots finished 3rd overall in the team standings missing second place by a single stroke. David Spencer finished 6th individually missing the all tournament team by one stroke. shooting 75-74 for a 5 over par 149. But the excitement of the tournament was Dave Wilkinson's wire to wire victory at a course that he has seemingly mastered.

Last year in the Scots first visit to Hard Labor, the then freshman Wilkinson fired a first round 68 and ended the tournament in second place individually. This year the sophomore from St. Louis set his eyes on victory from the first shot of the tournament. "I love this course and I have a lot of good memories of my 7 birdie round last year," said Dave. "I really wanted to play well and particularly close the tournament better than last year's final round; it was very satisfying shooting an even par round when it really mattered."

Clifton Barton and Wilkinson were paired together in the final round and Coach Schreiner walked the final 3 holes with Wilkinson. "I really just tried to keep Dave calm and focused on one shot at a time," said the Scot's coach Schreiner. "He made an outstanding 12 foot par save on #16 to give him a one shot lead after Barton bogeyed and then nearly made a birdie on the very difficult 17th." The stage was set for the finishing 18th hole, a dogleg par 5 up a hill. Both Barton and Wilkinson drove the ball to a place where they could reach the par 5 in two. Both came up just short of the green on their approach shots and had uphill chip shots. Barton hit first and left himself about 10' away for birdie. Wilkinson using a pitching wedge bumped his shot and it settled a bit more quickly than he would have liked leaving himself 12 or 13' for his birdie. The climax built as all other Covenant players, coaches, and fans gathered around the 18th to see the outcome of two outstanding rounds.

"Dave was first to putt and we really focused on the speed of the putt," said Coach Schreiner. "We both felt it would break around 8 to 10 inches but the first part of the putt was slightly uphill and then the last three feet fell away and got quick. Speed was everything." With the gallery watching, Wilkinson stroked a masterful putt and the ball went in the middle giving him the victory. "That was the greatest putt of my life and definitely the most satisfying," said the victor. "I wanted to make it so much, and it is so hard to put a great stroke on the ball when your thinking about what the putt means, but I just tried to stay calm and hit it with the speed that would go in.....and it did!"

Clifton Barton stood up and answered by making his putt as well, but the victory was Wilkinson's. The medalist honor also set a school record of even par 144 for the Scots.

Other Scots Scores

6th Place David Spencer 75- 74 149

19th Place Trevor Potts 79-79 158

33rd Place Michael Bowser 86-83 169

Lady Scots

11th Place Jordan Agate 92-89 181

Piedmont Spring Invitational

Creek at Hard Labor Rutledge, GA

Tournament Dates: 03/09 - 03/10, 2009

Par: 71 71 Daily Low Round

Yardage: 6481 6481 Daily Leader Both

Final Team Scores

1 Piedmont College 303 295 598 +30

2 Abraham Baldwin CC 314 305 619 +51

3 Covenant College 312 308 620 +52

4 Truett-McConnell CC 315 312 627 +59

5 Young Harris CC 316 315 631 +63

6 Mt. St. Joseph, Coll 327 307 634 +66

7 Wheeling Jesuit Univ 323 322 645 +77

Final Name School Scores

1 Dave Wilkinson Covenant 72 72 144 +2

2 Clifton Barton Piedmont 75 70 145 +3

3 Sean Bolen TrtMcnlCC 75 72 147 +5

T 4 Bernie Smith ABAC 74 74 148 +6

T 4 Matt Howell Piedmont 74 74 148 +6

6 David Spencer Covenant 75 74 149 +7

T 7 Justin Jolly TrtMcnlCC 73 78 151 +9

T 7 Stephen Amerson Piedmont 76 75 151 +9

T 9 Jamison Renfroe Piedmont 78 76 154 +12

T 9 Kaleb Ingalls ABAC 79 75 154 +12

T 9 Will Schau MtStJoe 77 77 154 +12

12 Eric Hodgson YoungHarri 79 76 155 +13

T 13 Andrew Kistler TrtMcnlCC 78 78 156 +14

T 13 Chase Grantham ABAC 78 78 156 +14

T 13 Nick Barlow MtStJoe 84 72 156 +14

T 16 Jared Shank WJU 78 79 157 +15

T 16 Kyle Hill WJU 80 77 157 +15

T 16 Robby Keever MtStJoe 75 82 157 +15

19 Trevor Potts Covenant 79 79 158 +16

T 20 Chris Lamb MtStJoe 78 81 159 +17

T 20 Ges Stover MtStJoe 79 80 159 +17

T 20 Matthew Clayton TrtMcnlCC 81 78 159 +17

T 23 Chase Hankla YoungHarri 83 77 160 +18

T 23 Chris Andrarakos WJU 80 80 160 +18

T 25 Bill Breecher ABAC 83 79 162 +20

T 25 Stanley Roberts YoungHarri 84 78 162 +20

T 25 Winston Gibbs ABAC 84 78 162 +20

T 28 Adam DesPres YoungHarri 79 84 163 +21

T 28 Jeremy Nichols MtStJoe 82 81 163 +21

T 28 Nicholas Fouche YoungHarri 75 88 163 +21

31 Taylor Gary Piedmont 87 78 165 +23

32 Mike Whalen MtStJoe 90 77 167 +25

T 33 Brayden Stocklin MtStJoe 82 87 169 +27

T 33 Michael Bowser Covenant 86 83 169 +27

T 35 Dean Kruschinski MtStJoe 88 82 170 +28

T 35 Jesse Ramos TrtMcnlCC 86 84 170 +28

37 Mike Goldsberry WJU 85 86 171 +29

38 Kyle Harmon TrtMcnlCC 87 87 174 +32

39 Blayne Green Andrew CC 93 82 175 +33

40 David Hartke WJU 86 90 176 +34

41 Brandon Wolfram MtStJoe 87 95 182 +40

T 42 Matt Ball WJU 101 107 208 +66

T 42 Ryan Katsetos MtStJoe 109 99 208 +66