COLUMBUS, Ga. – An even par effort from Carson-Newman through two rounds of play at the Cougar Invitational presented by Aflac was enough to give the Eagles a third place finish at the end of the first day of competition.

Jake Headrick ended the day at -2 shooting a 71 and 69 in the first and second rounds, respectively, tying him at 8^th on the leaderboard to lead the team. He was the lone Eagle in the top 20 players by the end of Monday.

Through the first round of play, C-N as a team shot 288, the fifth-best team score of the morning. Headrick and freshman Tyler Parker both shot even on par through the first 18.

"First round was mostly mediocre," head coach Randy Wylie analyzed. "The highlight though was Tyler Parker making a great start to his career. His 71 saved the morning round."

Parker's performance put him three shots above fellow freshman Jackson Tyler, who shot a 74 at +3 in his first round of play as an Eagle.

Tom Forster finished round one +1 while Anthony Marcinelli was +10.

Moving into the afternoon round, improvements were made.

"We as a team had a great bounce back round, but Anthony Marcinelli's four-under 67 was fantastic," Wylie said. "That round really led us in climbing up the leaderboard."

Marcinelli's 14 stroke improvement was the largest change among the Eagles in the second round, tying him at 50^th on the day.  Tyler shot par in the second round to improve by three strokes, placing him in a tie at 33^rd with six other competitors including Forster, who shot a three-over 74 after matching par that morning. Not far behind on the leaderboard was Parker at the 39^th spot, posting a four-over 75 in the second round after shooting for par previously.

The Eagles ended Monday 18 strokes out of first, behind host Columbus State (-18) and Florida Tech (-9) in the 20-team tournament.

"I'm glad to have our season finally underway and to be in good position in such a great field," Wylie mentioned.

The invitational continues tomorrow as the teams play one final 18-hole round. The first Carson-Newman tee time is set for 10:10 a.m.