A New Life

Lape finished in second place and claimed the regional’s lone individual qualifying spot for the NCAA Championship at the NCAA Salem Regional this past May. / Jeremy Fleming ’08

In February of 2014, the men’s golf program at Furman looked down for the count. The university had eliminated the sport due to financial concerns, and it was only a gallant fundraising effort by alumni and supporters that got the program off the mat and back into the game.

The alumni and supporters have continued to do their part. Fred and Lyn Stubblefield of Charlotte, North Carolina, provided a major, $1 million gift to men’s golf in 2015, and the endowed scholarship fund now stands at an impressive $4.5 million.

The Furman golfers also have contributed to the program’s success. The Paladin teams have gotten more competitive every year over the last decade, and the last few seasons have proven just how good the Furman program can be.

“It’s been a long process to get here, but it’s satisfying to see it all coming together,” says Matt Davidson ’04, who was named head coach of the men’s team in 2018.

If you’re going to be competitive in collegiate golf, you simply need the players. And Furman has been recruiting the kind of golfers who can routinely shoot under par and win tournaments, players who have proven to be among the best in the Southern Conference and the nation.

Will Morlan ’24 during the 2022 Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville, South Carolina. / Jeremy Fleming ’08

Keller Harper ’21 finished his career with four individual tournament titles and was one of only two players in conference history to be named Player of the Year three times. He also competed as an individual in two NCAA regionals and would have likely made it three had the spring season of 2020 not been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2018-19, Jack Crosby ’22 won two events and was named SoCon Freshman of the Year. Last season, Sam Lape ’23 shot 15-under-par and finished second at the NCAA Salem Regional, making him the first Furman golfer since 2001 to advance to the NCAA Championship.

Junior Will Morlan also had a memorable 2022-23 season. His stroke average of 70.06 was the lowest in the history of the Furman program. He also won three individual titles in a single season, the first to accomplish that feat since Paladin legend Brad Faxon ’83 did it 40 years ago.

“Will had an amazing sophomore year,” Davidson says. “He’s a good ball striker who just gets better every year. He doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses right now.”

But golf teams don’t win events and qualify for NCAA tournaments with one or two good individual performances. It takes four designated golfers producing their best scores over three rounds to be competitive at the team level, and Davidson has worked hard to add the necessary depth to the program.

Sam Lape ’23 / Jeremy Fleming ’08

That was evident last season when the Paladins were ranked among the top 60 Division I teams in the country and received an at-large bid to the NCAA regional for the first time since 2002. The Paladins won the Furman Intercollegiate team championship in 2021 for only the third time in school history and captured another Intercollegiate title this past fall.

“We’re always looking for guys who work hard, have good practice habits and have room to improve,” says Davidson, who was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 2023. “We’re not as interested in what they’re shooting right now as in what they could be shooting in another two or three years.”

What’s not to like about the current state of the program? The team returns key performers from last season, and the Paladins added another solid recruiting class in the fall. The program’s three current scholarships are funded almost entirely by endowment. As a result of successful fundraising, the men’s golf endowment is on track to fund the full NCAA maximum of 4.5 scholarships by 2026. The team has its own golf course and practice facilities, and the South Carolina weather is favorable for golf year- round. The indoor, state-of-the-art Davis and Faxon Training Facility, which is named for former golfers Faxon and Cindy Davis ’84, opened in 2022.

“Our goals each year are to win the Southern Conference championship and make it all the way to the NCAA championship finals,” Davidson says. “I know that’s ambitious, but if we play to our potential those things are possible.”

Morlan credits both the supporters and the Paladin coaches for the progress the program made over the last few years. He said Davidson has made him a better player, both technically and mentally, and his teammates are well aware of the sacrifices people have made to keep the program going.

“We’re always talking about being grateful and not taking for granted what we’ve been given,” Morlan says. “Our unbelievable facilities, the scholarship assistance, the fact that we can play this sport competitively. We’re getting close to where we think the program should be. We’ve got the talent. We can be as good as we want to be.”