DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – North Carolina A&T men's golfer Christopher Pieper ascended two spots from Monday's action to finish in a three-way tie for 15th at the Daytona Beach Intercollegiate hosted by Stetson University at the par-72, 7,042-yard LPGA International – Hills Course.
Pieper and his A&T teammates completed the tournament on Tuesday by playing 18 holes, where they combined to shoot a third-round 14-over 302. They finished the tournament in eighth place after shooting a three-round, two-day total of 37-over 901. Stetson won the tournament with ease.
The Hatters finished with a 32-under 832, which included a third-round 14-under 274 to win the tournament by 52 strokes over second-place Florida A&M, who 20-over 884. Howard University placed third with a 22-over 886.
Pieper finished 14 strokes off the lead by shooting a 6-over 222. He shot par in the first round before finishing the tournament with back-to-back 75s. Stetson had the top four finishers led by Matt Gauntlett and Truman Keppy, who finished in a first-place tie at 8-under 208. Their teammates finished in a third-place tie at 7-under 209, and Howard's Greg Odom rounded out the top-5 by shooting a 6-under 210 to place fifth.
Pieper started his third round on the par-4, 388-yard No. 1 at 9:21 a.m. He parred the hole and then scored a birdie on the next hole, a 566-yard par-5. Pieper followed that triumph with three straight birdies before scoring again on the sixth hole as he birdied the 406-yard par-4 to move to 2-under on the day. At that point in the tournament, he stood at 1-over.
After two more pars, he ran into trouble as he bogeyed two of his next three holes before he got to the 12th. He finished the par-3, 190-yard hole in two to move back into the red on the day at 1-under. But after a par on 13, Pieper's day ended with bogeys on four of his five remaining holes as he finished at 3-over in the third round. Piper totaled 10 birdies for the tournament and recorded his first career eagle over the two-day event.
Sophomore Carson Witherspoon moved up four spots from Monday's action to finish in a four-way tie for 18th by shooting a three-round 7-over 223. After posting an 81 in the first round, Witherspoon returned strong over the next two rounds. He shot a 68 in the second round and a 74 on Tuesday. Witherspoon started on No. 1 and had a pretty steady day throughout.
He parred his first seven holes before scoring a birdie on the par-5, 536-yard No. 8. Witherspoon parred No. 9 before making the turn at the clubhouse. His back nine included three bogeys and six pars to finish the third round at 2-over.
Junior Conrado Chozas completed his third round with a 3-over 75. He ended the tournament in a three-way tie for 27th after shooting 10-over 226. He had two birdies on Tuesday and seven for the tournament. He also rolled in an eagle put during the tournament.
Graduate Diego Gonzalez shot 6-over on Tuesday and finished at 17-over 233 for the tournament. Sophomore Martin Gutierrez was also 6-over for the day and 24-over 240 for the tournament.
The Aggies will play their final tournament of 2022 this week when they travel the short distance to the Grandover Resorts & Conference Center to play in UNC Greensboro's UNCG Grandover Collegiate, Oct. 29-30.
