High Point University Men’s Golf Finishes 3rd Among Field of 18 at Wexford

Site: Hilton Head, S.C.
Course: Arnold Palmer Signature at Wexford Plantation (Par 72, 6,913 yards)
Tournament: Wexford Intercollegiate
HPU Team Standing: 3rd of 18 teams (293-290-301-884, +20)
Top HPU Individual: Brendan MacDougall & Adam Hooker T-5th (217, +1)
Next HPU Round: Monday, March 9 — at The Challenge at The Concession (Bradenton, Fla.)

HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The High Point University men’s golf team finished third out of a field of 18 teams at the Wexford Intercollegiate at the Wexford Plantation in Hilton Head, S.C. on Tuesday (Feb. 25). HPU carded a 301 in the final round, tied for the fourth-best of the day, to finish the tournament at +20, the best among the six Big South teams in the field.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team golf we played here,” head coach Brady Gregor said after the match. “Overall, a very strong week. We felt like we should’ve finished near the top of the field and we did. I’m starting to understand why coaches have gray hairs – there were two times we took the lead and lost it but we held on to finish third by ourselves and I’m very happy with the guys.”

Senior Brendan MacDougall and sophomore Adam Hooker both finished tied for fifth, finishing one-over for the tournament.

MacDougall started on the fourth hole and birdied the eighth before hitting a rough patch on the back. He finished his first three holes of the back six-over to slide back to five-over on the day and three-over in the tournament. MacDougal straightened things out in the final half of the back, rattling off four straight birdies on holes 14-17 to get back to +1 on the day before bogeying two of his final three holes to finish +3 on the day and +1 for the event.

Hooker got off to a good start from the fourth hole as well, picking up two birdies in his first six holes, including a birdie on the eighth hole, a hole the Panthers played two-under as a team on the day and eight-under over the three rounds. The back wasn’t as kind to Hooker, starting off with back-to-back double bogeys as part of a +7 stretch on the back and six-over round on the day to slip back to fifth after entering the day tied for third.

“MacDougall always plays well here and he got another top-five finish,” Gregor said of his senior. “Hooker came out of the gates strong and had his best career finish in fifth, putting himself in a position to win it.”

Brandon Einstein had the best round of the day for the Purple and White, shooting a one-over 73 in round three, tied for the fifth-best individual round of the day. He started out with a birdie on his opening hole, hole five. The fifth hole was Einstein’s best of the tournament, playing it -4 over three rounds, including eagling it in round one yesterday.

He picked up his second eagle of the tournament and the team’s fifth three holes later on the eighth before birdieing 11 to get to four-under on the day. The rest of the round started to chip away at his score like it did Hooker’s as he picked up five bogeys in his final 10 holes to slip back to one-over by the round’s end.

Drew Weary tied with MacDougall for HPU’s second-best round of the day, shooting a 75 to finish the day +3 and +11 for the tournament. He birdied two of his first three holes before going four-over in a span of the next four.

High Point’s third-place finish is the Panthers’ best placement at the Wexford Intercollegiate in the four years that HPU has attended. The team’s total of 884 and +20 to par are also bests in the event for the Panthers, improving by four strokes in each of the last two seasons and by 17 strokes from the Purple and White’s first time participating in the event back in 2017.

Despite shooting 20-over in the final round, Augusta was able to maintain its lead from day one to win the event, finishing at +14, six strokes above High Point. Davidson finished in second and had two players tie for medalist honors at two-under, the only golfers to finish the event under par. HPU finished six strokes better than the next closes Big South team in Radford, despite the Highlanders carding a 297 as a team for the lowest round of the day.

The Panthers are back on the course in early March, traveling down to Bradenton, Fla. for The Challenge at the Concession on March 9-10, hosted by Ohio State.