Eagles battle back for third-place finish at South Region Preview

 

Final Results (PDF)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A four-under round on Tuesday for Carson-Newman with two Eagles in the top five helped it to bounce back for a third-place finish at the South Region Preview.

"Nice finish today by the Eagles and another great event for Tom Forster," Carson-Newman coach Randy Wylie said. "As a team, however, we've got to learn to start better the first round if we're going to be a championship contender. I was really happy with the way Alex Hodge and Fintan McKenna fouth back after a tough second round."

The Eagles carded their best round of the week with a four-under 284 in the final 18 to push them to an 869 for the event, moving three spots up from where they entered the clubhouse on Monday. Tom Forster (Oundle, England) and Alex Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.) were two of three Eagles to shoot under par, both landing in the top five at second and tied for fifth, respectively.

C-N carded the third-most birdies in the field with 45 while also holding the third-best average on par 4 holes at 24-over.

Forster carded a third-straight round of 69 to close out the week at nine-under with a 207 total. He saw just bogey with four birdies in the round.

Like Forster, Hodge also carded a 69 in his final round, pushing his 54-hole total to an even 216. The junior fired his highest amount of birdies through each round with five on Tuesday with just a pair of bogeys to move 13 spots up the leaderboard from Monday.

Five shots behind Hodge was Fintan McKenna (Aberdeen, Scotland) in a tie for 17th at five-over. He was the only other Eagle aside from the top duo to shoot in the red on Tuesday, sitting at one-under. The senior was two-over heading into the turn with a double-bogey on the par-3 sixth. He cleaned that up with four birdies in the back-nine, three of those coming on par-4 holes.

Ethan Rimmer (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Jake Mynatt (Knoxville, Tenn.) both landed in a tie for 36th at +12 over.

Rimmer, C-N's individual in the field, moved up for spots from Monday on six bogeys and a birdie for a 77, matching his opening-round score.

Mynatt scored a 78 in the round to push his total to 228. He carded a double-bogey for a third-straight round with a trio of birdies and seven bogeys.

Zach Young (Crossville, Tenn.) found his lowest round of the week on Tuesday with a 75, giving him a tie for 62nd at 20-over. The freshman was three-over on the day a week-high four birdies.

Lincoln Memorial's Dan Bradbury was the top medalist in the event at 11-under. Forster and West Florida's Harry Butler were separated by one shot in second and third, respectively, as Butler went eight-over for the event.

LMU and West Florida tied by the end of the even at three-under forcing the two teams into a playoff.  West Florida won with all five team members playing the 18th hole in the playoff at two-under while LMU went even on the hole.

The Eagles now head into their winter break before starting the spring schedule in the early parts of 2020. Be sure to keep tabs on cneagles.com and @CNathletics on Twitter for all of the most recent news and notes.

Carson-Newman

292

293

284

869

+5

3rd

Tom Forster

69

69

69

207

-9

2nd

Alex Hodge

72

75

69

216

E

T-5th

Fintan McKenna

77

73

71

221

+5

T-17th

Ethan Rimmer*

77

74

77

228

+12

T-36th

Jake Mynatt

74

76

78

228

+12

T-36th

Zach Young

84

77

75

236

+20

T-62nd