JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's men's golf team is has one thing on its side as it travels to Columbus, Ga. for the Columbus State Invitational – team work.

While it may seem bizarre for a so-called individual sport to rely so much on teamwork, the support group that C-N head coach John Minor has seen form among his golfers is certainly helping the Eagles play good golf.

"They're feeding off each other," Minor said. "It's been a while since I've had a group with that team dynamic with a group of guys, that across the board, believe in one another. As their confidence grows, it's going to be something that's fun to watch."

"If I knew how to duplicate it, I'd write a book.  We try to best foot forward and have some humility and ability to persevere when things aren't good.  Those are important things for golfers to have and these guys have it."

Carson-Newman is coming off a round of golf where things weren't good – at least atmospherically.  The wind whipped through the Cougar Point course at Kiawah Island, S.C., but C-N still managed to match the 297 it shot from the day before. 

"What's encouraging is that we duplicated our first round total at Kiawah last time out," Minor said. "Why that's encouraging is because the wind blew like crazy the second round of the tournament."

Jonathan Kim-Moss (Mississauga, Canada) leads the Eagles with a 73.5 stroke average.  Kim-Moss, Rafael Jackson and Nicklaus Kennedy all have shot par or better for a round this year. 

Minor said success this week at the Country Club of Columbus-based course will have to come from touch instead of power.

"This course requires a lot of finesse play," Minor said. "There are a bunch of small greens with a lot of slope to them.  Hopefully we can get the course in the right condition and elevate our game."

The Eagles tee off Monday morning. 

-CN-