On the strength of his individual 10th-place tie in this week’s Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate, Western Carolina freshman Pierre Viallaneix has been dubbed co-Southern Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week. Viallaneix posted his second career top 10 finish and the second-best overall showing of his young career.
Weekly selections are made and announced by the SoCon office from nominations submitted by the media relations staff of each member institution. Viallaneix shared this week’s honor with Mercer’s Tyler Copp who also finished tied for 10th at the same event in Florida this week.
It is the second time this season that Viallaneix has been honored as he also collected weekly honors in early October as the league handed out weekly plaudits in the fall for the first time this season. He is the fourth different SoCon men’s golfer with two-or-more weekly honors in 2019-20.
Viallaneix led the Western Carolina scoring five to a season-best, sixth-place overall finish on Monday and Tuesday, placing among a three-way tie for 10th individually with a three-round score of 212 – the second-lowest, 54-hole score of his career. The Apopka, Fla., product opened the tournament with an even-par 72 before matching the second-lowest, 18-hole score in school history with an 8-under par round of 64 in the second round, entering Tuesday inside the top five in a tie for third place. He finished the tournament with a 4-over par round of 76 on Tuesday.
Overall, Viallaneix finished tied for the best par-3 scoring in the tournament field at 1-under par (2.92), and he recorded 11 total birdies over the 54-hole event.
All told, Viallaneix is the eighth different Catamount men’s golfer to received weekly honors since the league began handing out awards in 2001. WCU ranks tied for fourth all-time among active SoCon-members with 14 golfer of the week honors.
Western Carolina returns to action March 22-24 in a second event hosted by William & Mary. The Catamounts travel to Williamsburg, Va., for the Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate hosted by the Tribe at a venue that lends its name to the tournament. The 54-hole tournament is slated to include three rounds over three days.