Back-nine struggles send Eagles to seventh at SAC Men's Golf Championship
CHUCKEY, Tenn. - Despite shooting even-par as a team in the first round, the no. 2/4 Carson-Newman men's golf team sits at seventh-place after the opening round of the SAC Men's Golf Championship.
CHUCKEY, Tenn. - Despite shooting even-par as a team in the first round, the no. 2/4 Carson-Newman men's golf team sits at seventh-place after the opening round of the SAC Men's Golf Championship.
The Eagles shot a combined one-under on the front-nine, carding twelve birdies and eleven bogeys on the opening holes. The convocation struggled down the stretch however, shooting a combined six-over par on the back-nine with ten bogeys to just four birdies as a team. It is the fourth round of golf in a row this season that the Eagles have shot at or over par in a tournament.
Carson-Newman did have success on par threes, tying no. 25 Queens for the best score on the shortest holes at Graysburg Hills, with both teams shooting three-over and an average score of 3.15.
The Royals lead no. 3/5 Lincoln Memorial by five strokes after the opening round, after shooting an eleven-under 277 in the first round.
"We did not play our best golf today," says Director of Golf Randy Wylie. "I didn't do a great job preparing our team for the challenge of the conference meet. We expect to play much better tomorrow and try to get ourselves into position to challenge in the final round."
Will Collins paced the convocation in the first round of the SAC championship, as he sits tied for tenth with a one-under 71. The Knoxville native was the only Eagle to shoot under-par in the first round.
Collins carded four birdies in the opening round, with all of them coming on the front-nine. The junior finished the back-nine at even-par. Collins found success on par threes, shooting a perfect even-par score, the sixth-best in the field.
Jake Mynatt and Jonathan Nielsen both sit tied for 15th with even-par 72s in the opening round. Nielsen shot one-over on the front-nine, but a birdie on the 15th hole gave him an even-par finish on the last nine holes. Mynatt sat at three-under after the first nine holes thanks to birdies on the first, third and sixth holes, but four bogeys to just one birdie on the back-nine sent the junior back to even-par at the end of the day.
Jackson Tyler rounds out the scoring for the Eagles in the opening round, sitting tied for 25th after a one-over 73. The senior bogeyed the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth holes after shooting one-under through the front-nine.
Alex Hodge sits tied for 51st after shooting a five-over 77 in the first round. The Knoxville native carded seven bogeys to just two birdies in his 18 holes in the opening round.
SAC Men's Golfer of the Year Luke Harries of LMU sits in first-place by one stroke after finishing the opening round with a seven-under 65.
Carson-Newman will look to move up the leaderboard tomorrow, Apr. 11, in the second round of the SAC Men's Golf Championship. Fans can follow along with live updates via BirdieFire here or with updates from the course on Twitter at @cn_eagles.
