Site: Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Course: Arthur Hill Course at Palmetto Hall (Par 72, 6,582 yards)
Tournament: Pinnacle Bank Intercollegiate
HPU Team Standing: 4th of 16 teams (295-293-290-878, +14)
Top HPU Individual: Brandon Einstein, T-1st (70-70-72-212, -4)
Next HPU Round: Saturday, March 6 — vs. Elon (Details TBD)
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – A birdie on the 18th hole secured a share of the medalist honors and second event victory on the year for redshirt sophomore Brandon Einstein at the Pinnacle Bank Intercollegiate on Tuesday (Feb. 23).
Einstein becomes just the fifth golfer in program history to win multiple events in the same season after he won the season-opening ‘Wrangle at the Tangle’ by three shots back in January.
The Panthers held firm in fourth place as a team over round three, shooting a 290 for the third-best team score in the final round of the tournament.
“First off, I just wanted to say how proud I am of the way the guys competed this week,” head coach Brady Gregor said after the tournament. “From an eligibility standpoint, this is one of the youngest teams that we’ve played in a very long time. Physically they’re right there where they need to be, they’re one of the best teams physically. We just needed to sharpen up on some of our decision making and we easily could’ve been in the hunt to win this thing down the final stretch. Lastly, I want to congratulate Brandon on picking up another college win. He made a big putt on the last hole to win it so we’re very happy for him as a team. We’re ready to keep rolling and keep going into March, where we have three tournaments. I’m very excited about where this team is and I promise the best is yet to come.”
Einstein only had two birdies on the day but picked up his second at the right time. He birdied his second hole of the day and then strung together eight straight pars before dropping back to even on the day with a bogey on 11. He bogeyed 17 to drop one shot behind the leader but recovered with a 25-footer for birdie on 18 to get a share of the victory. He’s only the third men’s golfer in HPU’s Division I history to record multiple wins in a single season and the first since Chase Wilson won three events in the 2012-13 season.
The Clemmons, N.C. native made a total of 12 birdies over the tournament, bringing his total up to 200 in his career and into seventh place on High Point’s career birdie leaderboard, six away from entering the top-five. Einstein has only needed 63 rounds to reach the 200 mark and his current average of 3.17 birdies per round is the best in HPU history among golfers with at least 50 rounds played in the Purple and White.
Drew Weary had the best round on Tuesday for the Panthers and was one of two members of the Purple and White to shoot under par in the final round along with Gregor Meyer. Weary shot two-under in the final round and started early with a birdie on the first – one of just five golfers to go under par on the first hole on Tuesday. Weary’s initial stint in red numbers didn’t last long as bogeyed the second to drop back to even par, which is where he made the turn at.
The redshirt sophomore heated up on the back, birdieing two of his first three holes to get back under par. He carded his final birdie of the day on 15 to get to three-under but bogeyed 16 to drop back to -2 on the day and +6 in the tournament for a share of 21st.
Meyer ended tied for 21st with Weary when the event ended after shooting a 71 in the final round. Meyer’s round started the opposite of Weary’s as he bogeyed the first but birdied the second. He repeated that process on holes six and seven to make the turn at even on the day. Meyer picked up two more birdies on 13 and 15 to get to two-under and in the top-20 but a bogey on 18 dropped him back to +6 to end the tournament.
Adam Hooker and Grady Newton were also in action for the Panthers, finishing in ties for 42nd and 53rd place, respectively. Hooker picked up two birdies in his first five holes but ended with a total of five bogeys. Newton had a rough start to his final round but recovered on the back with a trio of birdies mixed in with a pair of bogeys.
High Point is back in action next weekend with a head-to-head event with Elon. Details of the event are still to be determined at this time.