JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. — Tennessee freshman Pennson Badgett picked up the first individual win of his college career Wednesday, closing with a 5-under 67 at Blackthorn Club in Jonesborough to claim medalist honors in the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate.
Badgett, who entered the event as an individual rather than as part of a team lineup, posted rounds of 68, 65 and 67 for a 16-under total of 200 on the 7,147-yard, par-72 layout. He birdied the final hole and held off Charlie Box of Eastern Michigan by a single stroke.
His charge started Tuesday, when he turned the front nine in 30 on the way to a 65 that pulled him into a share of the lead heading into the last day. That second-round 65 proved to be his best score of the week, and he followed it with steady golf on Wednesday to finish the job.
Virginia Commonwealth ran away with the team title at 42 under par, a three-day total of 822, edging Eastern Michigan in a field of 13 teams plus several individual players. Host East Tennessee State finished fourth at 29 under, led by Veigar Heidarsson at 11 under. Virginia Tech placed 10th. Greensboro native Tanner Cadieux shot a closing 67 for the champion Rams and tied for sixth at 13 under.
Badgett grew up in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, and is in his first season with the Volunteers, one of the top-ranked men’s golf programs in the country this fall. The win gives the Knoxville program an early-season boost from one of its newest players, and it came in a three-round event that drew teams from across the Southeast and beyond to the hills of East Tennessee.
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