Brown Named Landmark Conference Men's Golf Coach Of The Year; Four Gophers Earn All-Conference Honors

BALTIMORE, Md. – Hunter Brown, the head coach of the two-time defending Landmark Conference Men's Golf Champion Goucher College, has been named the Landmark Conference Coach of the Year for the second-straight season. Julian Gonzalez (Heredia, Costa Rica/Berkley Academy) and Evan Yue (Beijing, China/IMG Academy) have been named to the All-Landmark Conference first team while Nick Fisher (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) and Steph Lee (Manalapan, N.J./Saint John Vianney) have been selected to the second team.

Brown has led the Gophers men's golf team to the conference championship and the NCAA Division III Championships in the program's first two seasons in program history. His 2019 team took a one-stroke lead after the first round with a 306 and then shot a 302 in the second round to card a 608 in the two rounds and win the event by 15 strokes. In the squad's inaugural season, Goucher also had a one-stroke edge after the first round with a score of 315 and then posted a 334 in the second round to win by three strokes.

Brown, who has also coached the Goucher women's golf program to a pair of third-place standings in its first two seasons, has coached four all-conference first team selections and five all-conference second team honorees for the men's golf team. 

Gonzalez earns his first all-conference honor after finishing tied for the low score at the Landmark Conference Championships, but lost a one-hole playoff on the ninth hole after unable to hit his birdie attempt on the hole. Gonzalez shot a one-over par final round to end the two rounds in a tie with Lucas Artigliere after carding a 145. In the final round, Gonzalez bogeyed four and birdied nine to go onto the back nine at even par. He then posted pars on every hole on the final nine holes except for hole 16 to end with a one-over par round of 73. In the two rounds, Gonzalez had four birdies, 28 pars, three bogeys and a double bogey.

Gonzalez, owner of four Landmark Conference Player of the Week awards, averaged 73.7 strokes per round in 18 rounds on the year. Along with winning the conference event in the fall, Gonzalez won the Revolutionary Collegiate Classic on October 14 while finishing in the Top-3 in five events and the Top-10 in seven of the eight competitions on the year. Gonzalez carded five rounds under par including a career-best 69 in the opening round at both the Don Scalf Invitational and the Mason-Dixon Collegiate Classic on October 7 and has eight rounds of par or below in his freshman campaign.

Yue earned his second all-conference selection and first on the first team after finishing fifth on Saturday. He posted a 75 in the opening round and a 76 in the final round for a score of 151. The sophomore bettered his position by two spots from last year after carding pars on the first 14 holes of his afternoon before posting a double bogey, bogey, par, bogey on his final four holes for a four-over 76. He had two birdies, 25 pars, seven bogeys and a double bogey in the final round.

Yue was the squad's top golfer in the last two competitions of the regular season and was named the Landmark Conference Player of the Week after placing third at the Goucher Spring Invitational on April 15. Yue is averaging 77.9 strokes per round this season in 18 rounds and has two Top-3 finishes this season. He shot an even round of 72 in the opening round of the Goucher Spring Invitational for his best round on the year.

Fisher jumped into an all-conference second-team honor after he shot a 74 on the final day to move up 11 spots with a two-round score of 156 to place seventh. The sophomore started the final round with a bogey and then a birdie and then posted pars on his next eight holes. He then posted a bogey, birdie, bogey, bogey and then a clean sheet to finish the round after four pars to notch a two-over par round of 74. Fisher collected two birdies, 23 pars, 10 bogeys and a triple bogey in the two days.

Fisher averaged 81.6 strokes per round in 18 rounds this season with his best round this year coming in the final round of the Landmark Conference Championships.

Lee placed just outside of the Top-10 with a 78 in the first round and a 79 in the final round for a two-round score of 157 to snag an all-conference second-team honor in 2019 after a first-team nod as a freshman. Lee, who was the top finisher at the Landmark Conference Championships last year with a third-place standing, had a bogey to start his final round before three pars before he hit back-to-back birdies to get to one under par for the round through six holes. The sophomore then went bogey, double bogey and par on the final three holes of the first nine to go into the back nine three over par. He then posted pars on six of the first seven holes and then double bogeyed 17 and bogeyed 18 to finish with a round of 79. For the two days, he had two birdies, 21 pars, 10 bogeys and three double bogeys.

The sophomore is averaging 81.8 strokes per round in 12 rounds this season. He carded a 78 in the opening round of the Goucher Spring Invitational on April 15 and in the first round of the Landmark Conference Championships for his top round of the year

Goucher heads to the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships at the Keane Trace Golf Course in Nicholasville, Kentucky, on May 14-17.