TMU Places 13th at NAIA National Championship; Shedd Earns All-Tournament Team Honors
(Story provided by Truett McConnell Sports Communications)
DALTON, Ga. - On Friday, the Truett McConnell University men's golf team wrapped up the final day of the NAIA Men's Golf National Championships at the Dalton Country Club.
Most notably, Peyton Shedd finished tied for fourth place overall out of 95+ golfers along with maintaining a competitive position in the top four on the leaderboard for the entire duration of the tournament, ultimately earning an individual spot on the NAIA All-Tournament Team. Shedd concludes his time as a Bear with one of the best performances at nationals the program has ever seen and one of the best performances of his career.
Shedd has made TMU history by recording the highest program individual finish at the national championship, successfully topping his performance at the 2022-23 national championship, where he finished tied in 11th and teammate Jackson Stone tied in fifth.
"It was fun to watch Peyton battle for the individual national title. He played hard all the way to the end, finishing with a birdie on his last hole. We will miss Peyton, Nate, and Vic tremendously and are extremely grateful for their dedication to this program."
Shedd was seen shooting a 71 in round one, 71 in round two, 74 in round three, and a 75 in round four, featuring a perfect final putt to record a birdie at the last hole.
Stone followed finishing tied for 32nd after shooting a 79 in round one, 75 in round two, 73 in round three, and a 76 in round four. Additionally, due to Stone's stellar performance throughout the entire season, the sophomore was named to the Ping NAIA All-Region Team, along with earning a spot on the NAIA Ping All-American First Team.
Nate Thornton was featured finishing his career with a 77, 80, 80, and 75, while Ty Cranford, Vicente Smith, Vic Mincey, and Cade Wood all contributed great performances to give TMU an extended stay at nationals and an opportunity to fight for the red banner.
The Bears showed their grit in rounds one and two to make the team cut for the final two rounds of competition in 13th place, where TMU held on in rounds three and four to finish 13th overall out of 30 teams for the second consecutive year. TMU recorded a 310 in round one, 306 in round two, 308 in round three, and 303 in round four, with a final team score of 1,227.
TMU was featured besting 11 nationally ranked teams, including No. 13 Cumberlands University who finished in 14th, No. 14 St. Thomas University, No. 21 Webber International University, No. 3 Ottowa University in 17th, No. 19 Point University in 18th, No. 20 Campbellsville University in 19th, No. 8 Southeastern University in 20th, No. 18 William Carey University who finished 21st, No 22 Bellevue University in 22nd, No. 24 Ave Maria University in 23rd, and No. 10 Oklahoma City University who finished 25th.
"I am so proud of the guys this year," said Head Coach Steve Patton. "Our seniors delivered down the stretch this season and gave us some of their best scores while at TMU. It has been a great season for the men!"