COLUMBUS, Ga. – Alex Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.) debuted with a bang for No. 18 Carson-Newman as his four-under day landed him in a tie for second, helping C-N to sit at 13th through the first two rounds of the Cougar Invitational presented by Aflac on Monday at the Country Club of Columbus.
The junior was in the red for both rounds as the only Eagle to be under par through the first 36 holes of play. He heads into the final round three shots out of first.
"Really nice debut for Alex," Carson-Newman coach Randy Wylie said. "The Eagle team had some ups and downs, but I'm hopeful we were just getting anxious by just starting the season. This is a deep, talented team, and we can play much better."
As a whole, Carson-Newman was 12-over on the day with a 580. By the end of the morning round, C-N was sitting in seventh with a two-over 286. The Eagles tacked on eight shots in the second round for a 294.
It was on par for 118 shots through the first two rounds, good enough for the third-most in the field. While the group carded the fewest amount of birdies on the day with 19, it did bring in three birdies exclusively on a trio of par-5 holes from Hodge, Fintan McKenna (Aberdeen, Scotland) and Tom Forster (Oundle, England).
Hodge fired a 68 in his first round to lead the Eagles early. His morning was highlighted by a team-high five birdies in the round with an eagle on the par-5 17th. He stayed on course through the second round, adding on four more birdies, nine total on the day. He tied for third on par-4 scoring at three-under.
Eight shots behind Hodge by the end of Monday was Jake Mynatt (Knoxville, Tenn.) at four-over, sitting in a tie for 45th with a 146. The sophomore was even in the first round on a pair of birdies and bogeys before going four-over in the afternoon. He fired four more birdies in the second round but also carded four bogeys and a pair of double bogeys.
Tied for 58th by the end of Monday was Fintan McKenna (Aberdeen, Scotland) with a 148. The senior went one-over in the morning, sprucing up a four-over showing out the gate with a birdie and eagle down the stretch. In the second round, he was only able to find one birdie on six bogeys.
Tom Forster (Oundle, England) used back-to-back four-over rounds to tie for 70th with a 150. He faced some struggles early with a few bogeys heading into the bulk of his opening back nine. The senior cleaned up the first round with an eagle on his second-to-last hole for a four-over 74. In the second round, he was on par for 14 holes while going for bogey on the remaining four.
Rounding out the Eagles on the leaderboard was Fergus Robinson (Towcester, England), tied for 87th at 13-over. The junior shot the highest score among his C-N counterparts with a 10-over 80 in the morning. He was on par for 11 holes in the round while carding a double-bogey and triple-bogey on top of five bogeys. He was the only Eagle to improve in the second round, shaving seven shots off of his opening round. He bounced back with two birdies in the afternoon on just an added bogey and four-over showing on the par-4 3rd hole.
Delta State's Zach Zediker leads the field at seven-under, three shots ahead of a six-way tie at second.
No. 4 Florida Southern sits atop the leaderboard at six-under while No. 1 Lynn is second at two-under. Valdosta State and No. 12 St. Leo hold down third at one-under.
The tournament continues on Tuesday with one more round of play beginning at 9 a.m. Live scoring will once again be available through BirdieFire.
