• Sophomore Alec Weary came out of the gate strong shooting 4-under on the front nine before finishing the day tied for fourth with a 72 (E).
• Sophomore Brendan MacDougall shook off a slow start finishing with three back-nine birdies and is tied for seventh (73).
• With three players in the top-10, High Point will enter Saturday’s second round tied for fourth after carding a +10 (298).
NINETY SIX, S.C. – Led by a trio of sophomores in the top-10, the High Point University men’s golf team is tied for fourth-place after day one at the Big South Championship hosted at the Patriot at Grand Harbor.
Sophomore Alec Weary boosted the Panthers early completing the front nine in just 32 strokes (-4). Then, on the back nine sophomore Brendan MacDougall heated up carding three birdies and shooting two-under. As a team, HPU posted its fifth-best first round score (298) at the conference championship and will enter the second round tied for fourth.
“It’s always good to get the first round of conference under your belt,” head coach Brady Gregor said. “I am proud of the poise and determination the team showed today. Every player, top to bottom, showed fight when faced with adversity. We were only a few holes away from having a really low round today. We need to buckle up because it’s a tight leaderboard and it’s going to be an exciting final two rounds.”
Overall, Weary finished his round tied for the tournament lead with five birdies and is tied for fourth after posting a 72 (E). The Bluffton, S.C. native used his length off the tee to his advantage going -2 on the par-5s.
One stroke behind him, MacDougall comes in tied for seventh after the first 18 holes. The sophomore offset a plus-3 start on the first three holes with a run of three straight birdies late in his round to card a +1 (73).
Completing the sophomore trio, RJ Bartolomucci tied for second in par-5 scoring (4.25) thanks to an eagle on eight and is tied for 10th overall after firing a +2 (74). Rounding out the lineup, junior Davis Kiger and senior Emile Menard are tied for 39th after posting matching 79s in the first round.
Gardner-Webb leads the event at 291 through the first day while Charleston Southern (293), Campbell (293) hold leads on the Purple & White. Behind Weary and Bartolomucci, HPU leads the field in par-5 scoring (4.60) and have the second-most holes under par (15).
The Panthers are back on the course on Saturday morning at 8:50 along with Longwood (298) and Liberty (299) for the second round of action.