JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- No.20 Carson-Newman men's golf begins its spring season tomorrow at the Saint.Leo Invitational in Dade City, Florida.
The Eagles will compete at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club with 36 holes set for Monday and the final 18 planned for Tuesday. Lake Jovita is a par 72, ranging 7,153 yards.
"I've coached there (Lake Jovita) for several years now, we've played there several years in a row, Carson-Newman head coach Randy Wylie said." So, I think we'll be relying on my experience coaching there. Some of the finishes we've had there were fantastic. We have played well at that golf course. It's a long course but it has four reachable par fives and that's been a strength of our time. I think we can take advantage of those holes."
C-N will compete at the Saint Leo Invitational for the first time since the spring of 2019. The Eagles finished in 3rd place. C-N competed at this event for four consecutive seasons from 2015-19.
Competing for the Eagles the next two days will be Hayden Hunneke, Jake Mynatt, Elliot MacGregor, Luke Stock and Aidan Powter. Ben Johnston will compete as an individual.
Hunneke finished the fall with a 72.7 scoring average. His first round of the fall was his best round. He fired a 3-under 67 in the first round of the Cougar Invitational. He matched that 67 in the final round of the McCoy Wright Currahee Collegiate on Oct 25, a tournament he finished tied for 2nd. The graduate student finished under par in the final two tournaments of the fall season.
Mynatt led C-N with a 72.5 scoring average, participating in all four tournaments in the fall. The graduate student recorded his best three rounds of the fall at the Citrus Intercollegiate. He fired two rounds of 3-under 69 and a middle round of 6-under 66 to finish 2nd in the event. His stellar play helped the Eagles to a 3rd place team finish.
MacGregor played in ten rounds, recording a 73.1 scoring average. His two best performances were rounds of 70 at the Cougar Invitational and Citrus Intercollegiate. The sophomore finished tied for 6th at the Cougar Invitational to begin the fall season.
Like MacGregor, Stock also finished the fall with a 73.1 scoring average. Stock had a phenomenal second round at the Irish Creek Invitational, scoring a 6-under 67. The junior posted a top ten finish at the Cougar Invitational at the beginning of the fall season.
Powter returns to the C-N lineup after participating in just the Cougar Invitational during the fall. Of the three rounds played, his best was the first round in which he scored a 4-over 74.
Johnston will also compete for the first time since the Cougar Invitational. He scored a pair of 78s and an 81 in his first collegiate tournament.
C-N will strive to continue the momentum that was built at the end of the fall season, finishing in third place at the Citrus Intercollegiate. The top three finish at the event, which included finishing better than three ranked teams, marked the eighth consecutive fall season in which the Eagles finished in the top three at an event.
"I'd like to keep that momentum going that we had," Wylie said. "It's a little tricky because it was so long ago. But what I've seen here at home gives me a lot of confidence and hope that these guys are building something and they're getting better and better."
Eagle fans can stay up to date with live scoring at this link: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=teamPlayer&tid=26511
