HPU Men’s Golf: MacDougall Jumps 14 Spots on Second Day of Regional

RALEIGH, N.C. – High Point University men’s golf sophomore Brendan MacDougall moved up 14 spots on the leaderboard with a -1 (70) in the second round of the NCAA Regional at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on Tuesday.

MacDougall’s -1 (70) – his HPU-record 16th round at or below par this season – could have been even lower as the Calgary, Alberta native played the first 14 holes at -4. However, a double-bogey on the 15th proved costly, but didn’t erase an otherwise stellar performance.

“As a coach, we get to go through all the same emotions as our players and sometimes one bad hole late in the round feels like being punched square in the face,” head coach Brady Gregor said. “So yes, that hurts, as it should, but we aren’t letting that overshadow the positives. This was his first regional round under par, it got him back to even for the tournament, it put him in position to have a chance to finish the tournament under par and even do something more special tomorrow.”

MacDougall bogeyed the second hole of the day, but battled back with six straight pars before birdying the ninth hole to get to even as he headed to the back nine. The sophomore kept the momentum going by sandwiching birdies on 10 and 12 around an eagle on the par-5 11th to get to -4.

“Obviously I didn’t finish as well as I wanted,” MacDougall said of shooting +3 over the final four holes. “But there are a lot of positives that I can draw on for tomorrow as I try to put together my best round of the week.”

MacDougall started the day at 47th, but jumped to a tie for 33rd with his performance on Tuesday.

Texas, NC State, Duke, Georgia Tech and Liberty will enter the final round in position to advance to the NCAA Championship. Meanwhile, Augusta’s Broc Everett (-9) is the top individual with 18 holes to play.

MacDougall will tee off on No. 1 in Wednesday’s third and final round at 9:23 a.m.