Day Two Surge Lifts No. 12 Golf to Tie For Eighth at Tiger Invitational
Alden paces Quakers with one-under showing
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
PINEHURST, N.C. – Rallying in the event’s second 18, finishing just four-over as a collective, the No. 12 nationally ranked Guilford College men’s golf team secured a tie for eighth with a 19-over team score at the Tiger Invitational, hosted by Hampden-Sydney College at the Forest Creek Golf Club on Sunday and Monday.
Just the 36 holes were played in this two-round event with temperatures in the upper-50s and some moisture around at the par-72 North Carolina venue. It was your usual event for the Quakers, with 18 of the 20 teams competing ranked within the top-50 based on Scoreboard, including 13 squads inside the top-25. No. 2 nationally-ranked Methodist University topped the field running away over the two days, owning two of the four team rounds that were below-par to be the only team to finish below-par overall with an exceptional nine-under. No. 30 Babson College made the long trip down from Maine worth it with a runner-up finish at two-over before No. 4 Sewanee rode a six-under second day to rise five spots and complete a third-place finish.
GC was one of five Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) teams in attendance. No. 18 Hampden-Sydney College was the top-finishing ODAC squad at their home event, taking fifth followed by No. 13 the University of Lynchburg in sixth. Behind Guilford in the results were the top-ranked team in the nation coming in, Washington & Lee University, who took 11th followed by No. 23 Averett University in 13th. Bridgewater College also competed, finishing 18th.
James Alden (East Northport, N.Y.) enjoyed his best performance of the early spring slate grabbing his first top-ten finish of the season with a tie for eighth at one-under. He was steady across the two days, never getting more than one-over or two-under at any point during the event. He finished with a break-even first day before offsetting his two bogeys with three birdies to complete a one-under event as the top contributor for Guilford.
Evan Mendyk (Summerfield, N.C.) followed with a tie for 29th and he started hot, with birdies on his second and third holes on Sunday although he could not recapture that magic the rest of the day finishing two-over on day one. Day two he pretty much played par golf as he started play on the 13th hole, but back-to-back bogeys on six and seven dampened things, resulting in a plus-two day and four-over event.
Cracking the lineup for the second-straight weekend, Luke Wise (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) proved he may not be going anywhere, settling in on his second 18 with a par day two score to rocket up 26 spots and finish tied for 46th. Day one was a bit of feast-or-famine for the freshman with ten bogeys intermixed with a trio of birdies, but he settled in on day two highlighted by an eagle on the par-five 18th hole, securing a level score on the day and seven-over on the event.
Rounding out the Quaker contributors was a scorer’s decision between Parker Cumbea (Fuquay Varina, N.C.) and Andrew Perry (Fuquay Varina, N.C.) as they both finished at ten-over and tied for 61st out of 100 golfers in the event, so either one could have been considered GC’s fourth-and-final scorer. Perry was hit-or-miss throughout his two trips around the course, as his five birdies were great, but he also featured 11 bogeys and a pair of double-bogeys. Cumbea was steadier with just one birdie against 11 one-over holes, albeit with a very solid 24 break-even tees.
The Quakers will send their B-squad down to Thomasville next week to compete at the Falcon Showdown, hosted by Pfeiffer University on Monday, March 17th and Tuesday, March 18th at the Colonial Country Club.
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