Darton wins at Doublegate

ALBANY – Darton State College won the Doublegate Collegiate Invitational, today, and Cavalier freshman Taylor Martin beat everyone by at least five shots to become the tournament medalist.

The Cavaliers consistently shot 292 both days to total 584 strokes – four better than Wallace State, who finished second despite entering the second round with a six-stroke lead today. No. 2-ranked Central Alabama finished third with 595 total strokes.

Martin, a freshman from Braselton, finished the first round tied for second with 71 strokes. He was 3-under today with 69 to take medalist honors.

“This is the Taylor Martin I recruited,” Darton head golf coach Bill Jones said. “Conditions were tough today – that was a heck of a round.”

Martin’s teammates swung at 20-mph winds too today and finished well. Freshman Parks Brown and sophomore Nick Green finished in top-5 positions and with Martin were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Brown, a Gainesville native, shot an even par Monday and his 73 today was strong enough to tie two others for second place. Green was 2-over both days and finished tied for fifth.

TaeHyung Kim returned Monday after a month-long recovery from an injury, and shot 76, 77 to sum Darton’s score. Martin had been missing from Darton’s lineup too.

“I think having those two guys around, Taylor and Tae… the other guys feed off of them,” Jones said. “We put a lot of work in this last month, and it’s nice to see these results coming from it. Now if we can build on this and continue to move forward, then we’ll be just fine when it’s time for nationals.”

The Cavaliers will compete next at the Ron Marshall Spring Fling at Goosepond Colony in Scottsboro, Ala., on March 14-16.