Everett Whiten Jr. could do no wrong.
He fired a final-round 8-under 64 at Shoal Creek in Alabama to help Howard win the 2023 PGA Works Collegiate Championship men’s team title. Howard, only in its third year of existence, won the tournament for the second straight year, shooting 25-under 835 to win by 57 shots.
“I feel like if you prepare properly and you execute by trusting the process, things like this can happen,” Howard coach Sam Puryear said. “This is a byproduct of a lot of hard work, a lot of personal belief, a lot of sacrifice. We had a quick two-day turnaround from our conference championship, so there was a lot on everybody’s plate, but it worked out in our favor.”
Whiten’s teammate, Greg Oden Jr., won low medalist honors the previous two years, but Whiten took the crown this year at 14 under. Oden shot 5 under.
In the men’s individual competition, Louisville senior C.M. Mixon birdied the final hole to avoid a three-man playoff and helped him win the title, shooting 2 under.
On the women’s side, it was Texas A&M Corpus-Christi taking home the title, winning by 30 shots at Bent Brook Golf Course for its third consecutive team championship. Junior Lucie Charbonnier won the individual title with a 3-under 68 final round to finish 1 under for the championship, two shots ahead of freshman teammate Lucia Ramirez (1 over) and senior Maria Beltran (3 over). It is Charbonnier’s second consecutive PWCC title.
“I wanted to beat my teammate. She’s just a freshman and I wanted to have (the championship) back,” Charbonnier said. “I told her we’ll just have to play the best and the best wins. If I would have finished second behind her I still would have been happy.”
North Carolina Wilmington senior Phu Khine was disappointed that she couldn’t defend her first PWCC title last year. After winning in 2021, Khine had a labrum injury in her shoulder and could not play in 2022.
She returned this year and stayed within striking distance during the first two rounds. She followed the same formula in the final round, staying steady on the back nine at Shoal Creek to shoot even par.
While she did that, Alabama State’s Allycia Gan struggled, making bogeys on 11, 12 and 13 before a triple bogey on 14 sank her chances. That meant Khine’s 3-over 218 was good enough to win over Charlotte’s Kaiyuree Moodley (4 over) and Gan (7 over).
“It means a lot to me to win in general,” Khine said, “but to win the PGA WORKS, it’s for minorities and giving us the opportunity to get these people together in this event. It’s a great honor for me.”