MELBOURNE, Fla. -- No. 20 Carson-Newman struggled to find itself under par on Monday as the Eagles moved down two spots on the leaderboard to sixth-place through the second day of competition at the Panther Invitational at the Duran Golf Club.
The Eagles were 20-over in the second round with a 308 team total score, moving them to 28-over through the entire tournament thus far. They also moved from second-most birdies in the first round to fourth-most in the field, holding a total of 26 through the first two rounds.
None of the six C-N participating players were under par through the front-nine in the second round with four of the team members shooting three-over while Jackson Tyler (Wilmington, N.C.) and individual Grant Bodie (Knoxville, Tenn.) started the morning with +2 scores. In the back nine, the closest Carson-Newman came to seeing a player shoot under was a +1 showing from Tom Forster (Oundle, England) through the last nine holes.
"We had beautiful weather today and for some reason we just didn't fire," head coach Randy Wylie said. "We need to get to work and be tougher competitors."
After going through Sunday tied for the second-most birdies, Forster did not record a birdie until holes 10 and 11. He had a total of three in the second round along with seven bogeys to land at a tie for 9th, six spots lower than Sunday, with a +4 score of 76.
Alex Hutson (Newport, Tenn.) started the day at three-over in the morning with four bogeys and a single birdie. The back-nine was an improvement from his first round performance where he was five-over through the set. Monday saw the junior shoot one-over on the second half of the course with three bogeys and a duo of birdies. His second round score of 76 pushed him down seven spots on the leaderboard to a tie for 20th.
Jake Headrick (Maryville, Tenn.) was three-over for the second-straight time through the front nine before finding a bit of improvement in the last nine holes. The junior faced just two bogeys in the back-half of the course for a second round total of 77, one stroke higher than his first round score. He was in a tie for 24th by the end of Monday.
Anthony Marcinelli (Knoxville, Tenn.) shot four birdies on the day, but his performance was shadowed by five bogeys and a trio of double bogeys, pushing him to a +7 second round showing. His round of 79 pushed him down 13 spots on the leaderboard as the junior landed in a tie for 26th.
Bodie shot back-to-back bogeys on the first two holes with a birdie and another bogey later on. In the back-nine, the junior recorded a birdie but tacked on a pair of bogeys and a double bogey. His five-over score of 77 was seven strokes better than his Sunday score, moving him up to a tie for 49th.
He was the only Eagle to improve his placement on the leaderboard through the second round of play.
Jackson Tyler (Wilmington, N.C.) cut one stroke off of his first round score for an 81 on Monday. His +2 score on the first nine holes was followed by a seven-over outing in the back-nine as the freshman shot for bogey thrice and double bogey twice. He moved to 19-over for the tournament, sitting at a tie for 54th at the end of Monday.
The top three stayed the same through the second day of competition. No. 2 Florida Southern topped the leaderboard with a five-under showing on Monday, recording a team total of 283. They are now eight-under through the first two rounds. No. 10 Barry remained at second with a one-over outing on Monday followed by No. 5 Florida Tech at third, going one-under to become six-over through two days of play.
Florida Southern's John Coultas remained at the top of the player leaderboard after his -3 round of 69 on Monday. He is now -7 for the event. His teammate John VanDerLaan is now tied at the top with Coultas after shooting five-under the in the second round, moving him up two spots from Sunday.
Florida Tech's Max O'Hagan moved down into a tie for third with Barry's Jorge Garcia. They both are two-under par.
The Panther Invitational will close out with a third and final round on Tuesday morning. The day is scheduled to begin with an 8 a.m. tee time. Live scoring will once again be provided through Golfstat with a full recap and final results to follow on cneagles.com.
