MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – Both Tom Forster (Oundle, England) and Jake Headrick (Maryville, Tenn.) found their way into the top 10 for the second consecutive week as the Carson-Newman men's golf team placed fourth at the University of North Alabama Spring Preview played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at the Shoals Fighting Joe Course in Muscle Shoals, Ala. on Tuesday.
"I thought we played O.K. today, but unfortunately we had to count a 78 [as our final score]," said coach Randy Wylie. "Fourth place is a decent place to finish in this field. It was another solid week for Dalton [Reese] (Warrenton, Ga.) and Tom and Jake."
Forster, Headrick and Reese all mirrored each other during the final round and entered the clubhouse with identical 72's. Despite all posting scores of even par, they each fell a little bit on the preview's leaderboard. Forster showed a two shot improvement on his second round and left Alabama in red numbers for the second consecutive event. His final mark of a one-under 215 tied the freshman for eighth, his third top 10 finish.
Just one shot off the pace set by his teammate was Headrick, who carded a score on Tuesday that split the difference between his first two times out and gave him a final mark of par. For his efforts, the sophomore shared 10th with four other players, his third time in the top 10 during the current campaign and fifth time in his career.
By closing out his tournament with a 72, Reese earned a final score of a two-over 218. He sliced three strokes off the 75 he posted in round two and managed to tie for 18th.
Brady Childers (Granite Falls, N.C.) suffered through a difficult last 18 holes and ended with a seven-over 79 that resulted in him concluding at +12 and tying for 52nd. The fourth score for coach Wylie on Tuesday came from Will Hurt (Powell, Tenn.), who, after putting up an 83 in each of the first two rounds, shaved off five shots for a 78. At +28 over 54 holes, Hurt tied for 88th.
The competition's championship went to Shea Sylvester of the Lee University Flames. He stayed steady through all three rounds with a 69 each time out to finish nine-under, three strokes ahead of Limestone's Filip Sandberg. Sylvester also was the main catalyst in Lee's victory in the team competition. The 13th-ranked Flames finished Monday in fifth but turned in a pair of 279's on the final day and their score of 10-under allowed them to cruise to a 14-shot win. Ninth-ranked North Alabama's four over 868 was good enough for second place and Young Harris closed out the top three at +11.
On Monday, April 3rd, the Eagles will begin play at the Tennessee River Rumble, their third tournament in three weeks. Prior to the start of that event, visit cneagles.com for a preview.
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