Final Round Results

MELBOURNE, Fla. – With a final round team score of 289, No. 20 Carson-Newman made a 19-shot improvement from the second to third round as the Eagles notched a fourth-place finish on Tuesday at the Panther Invitational in Melbourne, Fla.

Head coach Randy Wylie's squad shot an 893 total over the three rounds of play, putting the Eagles at 29-over in the event. The team itself was one-over in the third round, its best showing in C-N's two years of competing at the invitational. The finish also marks the fifth-straight top-five finish for the team.

Carson-Newman shot the third-most birdies in the field with 44.

"Much better final round," Wylie said. "I'm very pleased with the way the guys bounced back. We do need to be more consistent throughout the tournament to finish at the top." 

Tom Forster (Oundle, England) finished at 10^th in the field with a one-over final round score of 73, putting him at three-over with a total score of 219. He recorded five birdies in the round, his highest in the three rounds of play, giving him a total of 12. His final trip through the front nine concluded with a +3 showing before shooting two-under in the back-nine.

The sophomore ended the tournament in a tie for third-best Par 5 shooting at six-under.

Alex Hutson (Newport, Tenn.) moved up three spots to finish at a tie for 17^th, his second top-20 showing this season. He had a strong two-under start in the morning that was highlighted by a trio of birdies and just one bogey before a back nine that included three bogeys. He scored a one-over 73 in the final round, bringing him to a 224 total at eight-over par.

Hutson closed out the event tied for third-best on Par 3 shooting with an even 3.00 clip. One stroke behind him on such holes was teammate Anthony Marcinelli (Knoxville, Tenn.) who sat in a tie for 6^th in the category.

Marcinelli launched up six spots to a tie for 20^th by the end of competition thanks to a 71 final score, his best in the three rounds. He was even for all but one hole, a bogey, in the front-nine. He opened the final half of the course with a double bogey before an upswing in his play resulted with four birdies, pushing him to one-under in the third round. His nine-over total of 225 marked his third-lowest total score of the season, shooting that total thrice.

Jake Headrick (Maryville, Tenn.) fell three spots by the end of the final round to finish at 27^th on the leaderboard. He shot a 72 for the second-straight round, this time opening the day with a five-over showing before shooting even in the afternoon portion. He was 14-over through the three rounds for a 230 total score.

Jackson Tyler (Wilmington, N.C.) made the biggest improvement through the third round, leaping 16 spots by the end of Tuesday for a tie at 38^th. He was even in the final round with four birdies and four bogeys. He improved his score through the final two rounds by nine strokes, closing with a 72 in the final round. This event marked his best closing round of the season. He was +19 for the event with a 235 total.

Grant Bodie (Knoxville, Tenn.) moved up six spots to be tied as the fifth-best individual participant in the field at a tie for 43^rd at +20 with a 236. In the third round, he was three-over in the final round with a 75 score, his best final round score of the 2017-18 campaign.

The final round saw no change in the trio of teams at the top of the leaderboard for a third-straight round. No. 2 Florida Southern closed out the event with a third round score of 286, pushing them to a ten-under total score of 854, a Panther Invitational record. The Mocs were the only team to finish under par. Tenth-ranked Barry was five-over through the three rounds of play, closing out at second with an 869 total followed by No. 5 Florida Tech with a 10-over 874.

Florida Southern's John VanDerLaan remained atop the leaderboard with a two-under third round that pushed him to nine-under through three rounds. His 207 total also marked a tournament record. After being tied at the conclusion of the second round, his teammate John Coultas moved to second-place on the leaderboard with a seven-under total of 209. Three strokes behind him was a tie at third between Florida Tech's Max O'Hagan and Barry's Jorge Garcia who were both four-under in the event.

The Eagles will now enjoy just over a week off before heading into the Bobby Nichols Memorial Intercollegiate. The three-day tournament hosted by Tennessee Tech will take place at the Sevierville Golf Club from March 18-20.