Somers Garners SoCon Men’s Golf Weekly Honor

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Elon senior John Somers has been named the Southern Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week for all competition from April 9-15 the league announced on Wednesday, April 16. This is the first career weekly SoCon honor for Somers and just the third time ever that an Elon men’s golfer has claimed the award.

Somers won the Coca-Cola Wofford Invitational on Tuesday, completing the two-day tournament with a 10-under 206 for his first career victory. The 83-golfer field included a pair of players ranked in the top 25 nationally, with Somers besting both by two strokes.

The Elon, N.C., native opened the tournament with a career-low seven-under-par 65 on Monday, equaling the 26-year old tournament’s first-round record. Somers followed that up with a four-under 68 in round two, putting him in the lead with an 11-under 133, also a tournament record through 36 holes. He finished his run with a one-over 73 on Tuesday to claim the two-shot win over a quintet of players, including No. 15 J.T. Poston of Western Carolina and No. 21 Julien Brun of TCU.

As a team, Elon finished second in the 15-team field with a 27-under 837, four strokes back of champion Lamar and 16 ahead of No. 50 TCU. The Phoenix shattered the tournament record for 36-hole score with a mark of 30-under 546, breaking the previous mark by 11 strokes. Elon’s 16-under 272 in the second round was a new tournament record for low round, as well.

The only other Elon player to ever win SoCon Golfer of the Week status was Jimmy Lytle who did so on Feb. 27 and March 5, 2008.

Elon and the rest of the league return to action at the Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship at the National Golf Club in Pinehurst, N.C., on April 20-22.