Golf Opens Spring Slate Taking Ninth at Savannah Harbor Invitational
Perry opens second half with breakout performance
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
SAVANNAH, Ga. – Benefiting from a career-best event from Andrew Perry (Fuquay Varina, N.C.), the Guilford College men’s golf team opened their spring finishing tied for ninth at the Savannah Invitational, hosted by Berry College at the Club at Savannah Harbor on Monday and Tuesday.
The three-round event featured mild temperatures, if with some clouds in the sky for the talented field of golfers who made the trip to Georgia. With 15 of the 20 teams competing ranked within the Scoreboard top-25, and all of them sitting within the top-45, it was business as usual for a Region-IV tournament. The top-two teams in the nation coming in, Washington & Lee University and Methodist University topped the field in the team ranks as the only two squads who finished under-par at nine-under and eight-under respectively. Sewanee took third, finishing one-over as a collective. GC was one of five Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) teams in attendance, and W&L was the only team to surpass them with Averett taking 11th, Hampden-Sydney finishing 14th, and Lynchburg claiming 16th.
Perry was superb to lead the Quakers on the leaderboard, posting his first collegiate par event to finish tied for 12th. Enjoying the back-nine all tournament, he finished at par in his opening round then two-over, albeit with a second-half recovery featuring three birdies, in his second round. Come his third trip around the green, however, Perry surged with four birdies to trim his score to a minus-two on the round and a break-even tally overall, rocketing up 21 spots to claim his placing.
Evan Mendyk (Summerfield, N.C.) picked up where he left off in the fall, finishing tied for 17th at just one-over. With unceremonious one-over scores his first two rounds, he, like Perry, surged in his final 18. Despite getting bogged down a little by two double-bogeys, he still finished the round at one-under thanks to five birdies.
Parker Cumbea (Fuquay Varina, N.C.) has the inverse event from his teammates that finished ahead of him. Completing his first round at just two-over and his second at one-above, he faded late some to finish nine-over and tied for 57th.
The fourth finisher for GC was James Alden (East Northport, N.Y.) who’s quality showings on the back nine were unfortunately overshadowed by front-nine troubles to complete the event at nine-over and tied for 68th.
Luke Wise (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) cracked the Guilford lineup for the first time and played really good golf over his initial two trips through the course, finishing at par and then just two-over. However, he experienced difficulties during his final-18 to complete the event at 13-over and tied for 77th.
The Quakers will return to action beginning on Sunday when they head north to Virginia to compete in the Tiger Invitational hosted by Hampden-Sydney College on March 9 and 10.
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