VIDEO: Randy Wylie Interview
ALBANY, Ga. - After earning a pair of top-10 national rankings and the number one overall spot in the region in the fall, the no. 6/18 Carson-Newman men's golf team opens the spring season at the Hurricane Invitational.
The 7th Annual Hurricane Invitational is a collegiate stroke play event with low four scores from a five-person team. Monday will feature 36 holes of play with the final 18 holes on Tuesday. Tournament awards will be presented to the top finishing team, the individual medalist and an All-Tournament team of the top three players.
Carson-Newman finished inside the top-five at every event they competed in during the fall season, including an event championship at the 2021 Queens Invitational. The Eagles' three round total of 827 was just enough to edge out the University of South Carolina Aiken by one stroke and give the Eagles sole posession of first place.
"We played the way we expected," says Director of Golf Randy Wylie. "We felt like we had a good team going into the year and it's an experienced and tough group. I think we can compete at every tournament we enter."
At the Queens Invitational, Alex Hodge finished fifth place thanks to an even-par final round of 71 and 10 total birdies in his final 36 holes of the tournament. Teammate Jake Mynatt finished seventh in Kannapolis thanks to a four-under final round.
The Eagles wrapped up the fall season with a third place finish at the 2021 Southern Tide Intercollegiate event in Atlanta. Jonathan Nielsen collected his first collegiate win at the event, finishing first with a three round score of 209 at seven-under. Nielsen led the entire field of golfers with 18 total birdies after three rounds of play. The next closest golfer had 14. Including Nielsen's 18, the C-N group collected 58 total birdies. Carson-Newman also shot the second best score on par fours with a 4.14.
Nielsen currently ranks fifth in the country of all Division-II golfers according to Golfstat entering the weekend. The sophomore out of Denmark is averaging a three-round score of 72.6 and one-under par. His round score of 63 at the Southern Tide event set a new course record at the Atlanta National Golf Course. Nielsen has recorded three top-10 finishes so far this season.
Last year, the Eagles finished fifth at the 2021 Hurricane Invitational. The Eagles carded a 295 through the final 18 holes to slide down one spot from Monday, leaving with a 14-over total of 878. Despite the 7-over day, C-N was the third-best par-3 scoring unit with a 12-over average at 3.20. It was on par for 167 holes throughout the week, tied for the fourth-most in the event. Hodge led the Eagles at the 2021 event, finishing tied four eighth at an even-par 216.
Lander won the 2021 event championship with a one-over score of 865 while Patrick Jacobs of Newberry won the individual championship last year with a seven-under total score of 209.
The field features a tough field of ranked foes, including no. 9/12 North Georgia, no. 15/22 Lander, no. 16/16 Georgia Southwestern, and no. 22/24 Columbus State from the Peach Belt, SAC rival no. 4/4 Lincoln Memorial, no. 11/11 West Georgia from the Gulf South, and no. 19 Belmont Abbey and no. 22 Erskine from Conference Carolinas. Lincoln Memorial, Belmont Abbey, North Georgia and Erskine all hold spots three through six in the Southeast region rankings with Columbus State ranked tenth. West Georgia sits at eighth in the South region rankings.
"We're excited to play," says Wylie. "We've been beating up on each other for a couple of months now and we're just excited to see new courses and other teams. We know we have a target on our back being the number one team in the region, but we also are chasing that number one national spot this spring."
Live results will be available throughout the tournament using the Golfstat mobile platform or can be found here. Live video of two holes will be broadcast for free on the Peach Belt Conference Sports Network, and can be found here. Fans can also follow along with updates on twitter at @cn_eagles.
