JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Coming off its second top-five finish of the season at the North Georgia Fall Invitational, the Carson-Newman men's golf team is looking to continue its torrid start.
Last week, junior Nick Kennedy (London, Ontario, Canada) won the team's first individual win since March 2013 at the North Georgia Fall Invitational.
Now, the Eagles will be looking forward to the 2014 State Farm Intercollegiate at Woodlake Golf Club in Tazewell, Tenn.
"We just want to continue the good play. The two freshmen stepped up and put in a couple good rounds. And we have a good chance to win this tournament if we play well, so I just hope we can do the same thing we are doing," Kennedy said about the team's play heading to Tazewell.
Carson-Newman's team for this week's State Farm Intercollegiate will look very similar to the team that competed in the Peach State. Junior Andrew Hall (Knoxville, Tenn.), sophomore Dalton Reese (Warrenton, Ga.), freshman Ben Kennard (Corryton, Tenn.) and freshman Steven Hill (Knoxville, Tenn.) will be joining forces with Kennedy.
Juniors Nathan Hodge (Jefferson City, Tenn.) and Corey Bray (Caryville, Tenn.) will join the squad as individual competitors.
"We have had a lot of people under par and not quite ending up under par at the end of the day by kind of letting it slip away at the end," coach Randy Wylie said about the progress his team has made. "I think we are learning how to close and we just have to keep growing in that regard and I think they are doing a good job with that."
Six South Atlantic Conference teams will be a part of the field the Eagles will face this week. Host Lincoln Memorial, Mars Hill, Lenior-Rhyne, Anderson, Tusculum and Catawba will be competing.
"They are playing solidly. That was a great field we played last week; we play another good field this week, so we will need to keep growing. We are getting better at not making doubles and triples and we are getting better at finishing rounds," Wylie said.
The State Farm Intercollegiate will be played at the Woodlake Golf Club in Tazewell, Tenn. The par-72 Woodlake sits on Norris Lake and was named "one of America's best new courses" by Golf Diguest in 2000.
The 54-hole tournament ties off Monday morning with 36 holes and concludes Tuesday with a final 18 holes.
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