HPU men’s golf places fifth at Bulldog Florida Invitational

• Freshman RJ Bartolomucci earned the second top-five finish of his freshman season completing the 36-hole event two strokes back of the top spot (70, 77; +3).
• High Point’s best round of the day was turned in by redshirt-junior AJ Hopkins who carded a 74 (+2) to finish in a tie for 12th (78, 74; +8).
• As a team, the Panthers earned their fourth top-five finish of the season with a two-round score of 611 (+28).

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The High Point University men’s golf team carded a combined score of 312 on Thursday to earn a fifth-place finish, its fourth top-five of the 2016-17 campaign.

Redshirt-junior AJ Hopkins paced the Panthers firing a +2 (74) to move from 21st at the start of the day into a tie 12th. Meanwhile, freshman RJ Bartolomucci carded a +5 (77) to earn his second top-five finish of the year. His two-round total (70, 77; +3) left him in fourth and just two strokes off the lead.

“RJ had a very solid tournament and competed fiercely until the very end and the more he plays, the more he improves,” head coach Brady Gregor said. “But for the team, there wasn’t a single area, statistically speaking, that was a good representation of the golf we know how to play and expect to play every time we tee it up.”

Behind Hopkins and Bartolomucci, junior Emile Menard recorded a 77 (+5) for the second straight day to place in a tie for 16th (77, 77; +10). Matching Menard, freshman Brendan MacDougall improved by one stroke to card a 77 (+5) and finish tied for 20th in the tournament (78, 77; +11).

Rounding out the lineup for the Purple & White, sophomore Davis Kiger joined MacDougall in a tie for 20th (74, 80; +11) while freshman Alec Weary finished in 34th-place (80, 84; +20).

High Point will be back on the course on March 13-14 when it travels to the Bash at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, S.C.