VIERA, Fla. – Despite shooting six shots higher than Sunday's opening round, No. 22/23 Carson-Newman held steady at fifth on the leaderboard with a 306 through Monday's second round at the Panther Invitational.
"The course did play tough today, but we were in good shape for 12 holes," Carson-Newman coach Randy Wylie said. "Today we started on the 10th hole and on the stretch -- holes 4 through 9, our finishing holes -- we really lost our focus and concentration, resulting in several wasted shots and opportunities. Hopefully we learn from it and will play better tomorrow and in the future."
The Eagles are 30-over through the first 36 holes of the tournament with a 606 total. They are tied for the most eagles in the field at three with Keiser after Zach Young (Crossville, Tenn.) carded one early in the second round. Heading into the final round, they remain 24 shots out of first, nine shots behind the top three.
Jake Mynatt (Knoxville, Tenn.) continued to lead the team through the second round, scoring a two-over round to moved up one spot to tie for sixth, now at two-over in the event with a 146. The sophomore was even through the first nine holes of the day on a pair of birdies and a double-bogey. In the back half, he added another birdie but accompanied it with three bogeys.
Mynatt heads into the final round seven shots out of first-place, but only four-back of the top-three. Through two rounds, he is tied for second on par-3 scoring with an even clip while holding the fourth-best par-5 average at a four-under 4.50.
Fergus Robinson (Towcester, England) carded a 77 in the second round, pushing his two-round total to an eight-over 152. Now tied for 26th, the junior smashed a trio of birdies on the day. He was over par on five holes in the round, four of those being par-4 scoring chances.
Like Mynatt, Robinson is tied for second on par-3 scoring.
Heading into the clubhouse five shots higher than when he left Sunday, Fintan McKenna (Aberdeen, Scotland) moved down to a tie for 30th with a nine-over 153. Sitting at four-over heading into the turn after recording his first double-bogey of the week, the junior strung together a trio of birdies to start the back nine of his day but was over par on five of the six remaining holes.
Through two rounds, McKenna is the best par-4 scorer among C-N's group, holding a four-over 4.20 average. He is tied for fourth in the entire field with eight birdies.
Using a five-shot improvement from Sunday, Young was four-over on Monday, moving up into a tie for 43rd with a 157. The sophomore's 76 was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 11th hole, marking the third eagle C-N has shot in the event. Outside of that, he added on a birdie but was over-par for an additional six holes.
Will Collins (Knoxville, Tenn.) was four shots higher on Monday compared to his Sunday outing, carding an 83 in the second round that pushed him to an 18-over 162 through 36 holes. His five-spot slide down the leaderboard into a tie at 54th came with 10 holes of bogey or higher, including a double-bogey off the bat at the turn into the afternoon. The sophomore was the only Eagle to not shoot under par on a hole in the round.
The top two teams in the field went unchanged through the second round with No. 2/1 Barry still leading at six-over and Keiser trailing by seven strokes. Host No. 12/12 Florida Tech took over third after an 11-over day, now at 21-over through 36 holes.
Barry's A.J. Ewart leads the tournament at five-under after staying in the red for a second-straight round. Keiser's Tim Neilsen moved into second at three-under with Bethune-Cookman's Marcus Sundlof in third at two-under. Those three are the only players in the field still under par.
The tournament wraps up on Tuesday at the Duran Golf Club. A shotgun start will kick off the final round starting at 8 a.m. Live scoring will once again be available through Golfstat.
