• Sophomore Brendan MacDougall carded a -4 (68) in the second round after posting a 72 (E) in the first and is tied for sixth overall.
• Sophomore RJ Bartolomucci shook off a slow start to post a career-low -4 (68) on the second 18.
• High Point sits in fourth after shooting a -2 (286) in the second round – the third-best round of any squad in the 18-team field.
HILTON HEAD, S.C. – High Point University men’s golf sophomores Brendan MacDougall and RJ Bartolomucci carded matching 68s in the second round of the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate on Monday as HPU surged to fourth through two rounds.
Overall, MacDougall is tied for fourth after opening the day with a 72 (E) and playing a bogey-free second round to card a -4 (68). The Calgary, Alberta product now has 11 rounds of par or better this season, which is two off his HPU Division I record of 13 in a season set last year. MacDougall was incredibly consistent shooting something other than a par or birdie just once all day.
As a team, the Panthers opened the tournament with a +5 (293) before shooting a blistering -2 (286) in the second round. The second 18 holes – the third-best of any team on the day – moved the Purple & White from sixth into fourth in the 18-team field. It also tied the team for the sixth-lowest round against par for High Point.
“It was a fun day out there and I am very proud of the guys picking up right where they left off in the fall,” head coach Brady Gregor said. “We played really good team golf today and we were very close to going really low today. It was impressive to go under par in just the second round of the spring.”
Bartolomucci’s -4 (68) was the best round of his HPU career and, along with MacDougall, tied for the 12th-lowest against-par score in HPU’s D-I history. Playing in his hometown, Bartolomucci was able to record that career-best round despite struggling in the first 18 holes shooting a 79. In the end, he’ll enter the final round tied for 26th, but just two strokes out of the top-20.
In the first round, junior Davis Kiger was +2 through 15 holes before birdying three and five to finish the round at 72 (E). He finished the 36 holes two strokes back of Bartolomucci shooting a +5 (77) on the second trip around the course.
“Davis stepped up big and battled back in his first round playing his last four holes minus-2 to get to even and set the tone going into round two,” Gregor continued. “We are excited to go out tomorrow and see if we can make a run up the leaderboard.”
A stroke ahead of Kiger, senior Emile Menard was a little up-and-down carding seven birdies, but also eight holes over par. However, like MacDougall and Bartolomucci, he improved from a first-round 75 to a second-round 73.
Similar to Menard, sophomore Alec Weary showed flashes tying Menard and Bartolomucci with the team lead with seven birdies. However, the Bluffton, S.C. native will enter the final round tied for 52nd (74, 77, +7).
The Panthers are tied for second in the field in par-5 scoring (4.92) thanks in part to Menard’s 4.63 average on the course’s longest holes. Georgia leads the event at 567 while No. 38 TCU (568) and Memphis (575) are ahead of HPU and Furman tied at 579.
The Panthers will be back on the course on Tuesday for an 8:15 a.m. shotgun start in the third and final round of the event.