DADE CITY, Fla. – A strong first round that saw the Carson-Newman men's golf team, Golfstat's 18th-ranked team, sitting at eight-under par was followed by a tough second round that ended with the Eagles dropping from second-place to a tie for fourth through the first day of the Saint Leo Invitational.
The Eagles spent the first round of competition battling for the top spot in the field with the nation's third-ranked team in Nova Southeastern. C-N did hold the top spot for a few hours, but the Sharks took the first-place spot for the rest of the day.
C-N was 11-over in the second round, putting them at +3 on the day with a total score of 579 through two rounds. Jake Headrick (Maryville, Tenn.) was the only Eagle to improve his score from the first to the second round.
The first round was a stark contrast as Carson-Newman was eight-under through the first round of the event with a score of 280. The Eagles first round score matched the team's second-lowest round score of the season which was last recorded at the Cougar Invitational in September.
Head coach Randy Wylie's team shot on par for a field-leading 129 holes. The next closest was Nova Southeastern with 121.
Headrick finished Monday as the top Eagle on the leaderboard in a tie for eighth-place, moving up four spots from his first round placing of 12th. He was on par for all but four holes, shooting for birdie on three with a bogey on another for a -2 round of 70. The junior improved by one stroke from his first round one-under showing.
Tom Forster (Oundle, England) had an eventful first round, shooting four-under on the morning. He was on par for a majority of the first 18 of the day. He shot a pair of birdies along with an eagle, helping him to notch a tie for fifth on the leaderboard. The second round was much different for the sophomore, shooting five-over in a round that saw him shoot a double-bogey, five bogeys with two birdies, moving to a tie for 20th-place.
Tied with Forster was Anthony Marcinelli (Knoxville, Tenn.), who was +4 in the second round of play with a trio of birdies along with five bogeys and a double-bogey. He opened the day with a bogey before shooting four birdies with the rest being even par shots to give him a -3 score through the first round with a score of 69, his second-lowest round score of the season. He was tied for seventh through the first 18 holes.
Three strokes behind the duo of Forster and Marcinelli was Jackson Tyler (Wilmington, N.C.) at a tie for 29th. He shot even in the first round, allowing him to sit at 17th on the leaderboard after going even for all but one of the holes on the back nine, the other being a bogey and recording two birdies and a bogey on the front nine. The second round saw his score take a four-stroke decline.
Alex Hutson (Newport, Tenn.) was even on scoring in the first round, tied for 17th. He moved to a tie for 38th after a second round that saw him shoot just one-over par on the front nine with two bogeys and a birdie while shooting one under on the back nine where he was even on all but one hole where he recorded a birdie.
Nova Southeastern was the top team on Monday at 23-under with a 553 total. Host team Saint Leo was second at -11 while Lee notched third at -8. Individually, Nova Southeastern's Juan Jose Guerra, the No. 4 golfer in the nation per Golfstat, sat in the top position at 12-under, scoring back-to-back rounds of 66. Conor Richards from Lander was four strokes behind for second while third-place featured a tie between Finlay Mason and Scott Odell, representing Nova Southeastern and Lee, respectively. They both ended Monday at seven-under.
The Invitational wraps up on Tuesday with a final round of 18 holes. Live scoring is available through Golfstat. Final results and a full recap will follow the conclusion of the event on CNeagles.com.
