Site: Greenville, S.C.
Course: Furman University Golf Course (Par 71, 6,984 yards)
Tournament: Furman Intercollegiate
HPU Team Standing: 6th of 17 teams (298-292-284-874, +22)
Top HPU Individual: Brandon Einstein, T-14th (73-71-72-216, +3)
Next HPU Round: Monday, April 12 — at Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate (Fort Myers, Fla.)
GREENVILLE, S.C. – The High Point University men’s golf team had its best round of the Furman Intercollegiate in the final round of the event, firing a 284 as a team on Sunday (March 28) for a sixth-place finish.
HPU’s round was the third-best of the day and eighth-best out of the 51 total rounds in the tournament, despite battling through storms that wreaked havoc across the Carolinas over the weekend. It’s the sixth round of par or better this season for the Purple and White, the second-most High Point has had in a single year and just one off the record of seven set in 2018-19. The Panthers were the biggest movers on Sunday, climbing four places to get into sixth.
“It’s always a better ride back to campus when you make a big move up the leaderboard and it was fun to watch the guys dig themselves out of the hole we got ourselves in,” head coach Brady Gregor said after the round. “We played in some of the wettest conditions I’ve probably coached in and I’m very pleased with how the guys got their minds right for the last two rounds.”
Brandon Einstein was HPU’s top finisher in Greenville, taking home a share of 14th place at three-over for the event. Gregor Meyer and Adam Hooker tied for the best round among the Purple and White on Sunday, each carding a one-under 70 to finish in a tie for 29th and 38th, respectively. Einstein was two shots behind them with a 72 on the day, as was Drew Weary, who finished in a share of 66th. Christian Castillo was also in action for the Panthers, finishing in a tie for 84th after carding a 78 on Sunday.
“Brandon gutted out a solid tournament and overcame a course he didn’t play well on as a freshman and that shows growth,” Gregor continued. “I’m confident Weary, Hooker, and Meyer can take some confidence from this final round as we start to make our conference run.”
Einstein only had two birdies in the final round but also carded an eagle, bouncing back from taking a bogey on the par-5 second hole yesterday to picking up an eagle-3 on Sunday. It’s the seventh eagle in Einstein’s career, moving him into a tie for the seventh-most in program history and now just two away from matching the record.
Meyer picked up four birdies on the day to lead the team, evenly spaced out with two on each side. He birdied 11 and 16 to get to -2 on the day after starting on hole nine before dropping back to even with bogeys on 17 and one. A birdie on two and one on six got him back to two-under before giving one back on his penultimate hole to finish at one-under.
Hooker had three birdies and a team-low two bogeys on the round and jumped out to a fast start with two of his birdies coming in his first three holes. One of them was on the par-4 10th, one of just four birdies all day and one of just 14 in the tournament on what played as the third-toughest hole in the final round.
Weary matched Hooker with three birdies but totaled four bogeys for his 72. He had a strong finish to the tournament, making the turn at +3 before racking up all three of his birds in his final seven holes, including birdieing both of his final two holes.
High Point has one more tournament on the schedule before the Big South Championships as the Panthers head down to Fort Myers, Fla. for the Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate on April 12-13.