Georgia Southern seventh at The Invitational at the Ocean Course
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – The Georgia Southern golf team shot a 298 in the second round of The Invitational at the Ocean Course to move into seventh place Tuesday morning.
The Eagles (+24) are one shot back of tournament host College of Charleston (+23) and three behind fifth-place Notre Dame (+21). South Florida carded a 3-under 285 to move to even par for the tournament and into first place. Kentucky (+5) is second, followed by South Alabama (+12) and Georgia (+17).
Georgia’s Joey Garber and Rice’s Kevin Reilly tied the tournament record for lowest round with 66s Monday.
Will Evans led the Eagles, who teed off on hole 1 Monday, with a 69, tied for the fifth-lowest score on the course on the day, while Hayden Anderson and Scott Wolfes each shot a 76. Kim Koivu finished with a 77, and Henry Mabbett carded a 79. Drew Guffey, who is playing as an individual, posted a 78.
Though the Eagles’ score was four strokes better than their first-round total, big numbers on a handful of holes are holding GSU back from a top-5 finish in a tournament that features six teams in Golfweek’s top-100 rankings.
Evans birdied the first hole and notched four straight pars before a bogey on hole 6 dropped him back to even. He posted birdies on holes 7 and 9 to make the turn at 2-under. A bogey on hole 13 was the senior’s only hiccup on the back nine, and he added birdies on holes 14 and 16 to finish 3-under for the day. He is currently tied for seventh and 1-over for the tournament.
Wolfes logged two birdies and two bogeys on the front to make the turn at even par but struggled a bit on the back, as five bogeys, including on holes 17 and 18, hurt him.
Anderson stumbled out of the gates with a bogey on hole 1 and a triple on hole 3, but the senior battled back with birdies on holes 6, 9 and 13 to get to 1-over. He struggled coming in with bogeys on 17 and 18 to finish 4-over.
Koivu birdied two of his first three holes but slipped with a double on hole 4 and a bogey on hole 5. The junior birdied hole 8 and made the turn at even par before a triple-bogey on hole 11 hurt him as he finished 5-over.
Mabbett made the turn at 4-over and birdied holes 10 and 11. Bogeys on 12 and 14 brought him back to 4-over and an 8 on the par-4 15th cost him. The sophomore salvaged his day a little by finishing par, birdie, par for a 79.
Guffey teed off on hole 10 and logged four bogeys on the back nine to make the turn at 4-over. The senior notched two birdies on the front nine, but a triple-bogey on the par-4, 453-yard 4th hole cost him.
The tournament concludes Tuesday, and the Eagles will tee off of hole 6 at 8 a.m.
Western Carolina tied for ninth at The Invitational at the Ocean Course
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Western Carolina, which carded a team round of 301 on Monday for a two-day total of 605, finished the second round tied for ninth place at The Invitational at the Ocean Course. First-round leader WCU junior J.T. Poston slipped into a two-way tie for fourth place with a 2-over-par 74 and is five strokes off the tournament lead at 141 entering the final day of competition.
Paired with golfers from Charleston Southern, Rice and Francis Marion, the Catamounts open the final round between holes 11 and 14 for Tuesday’s 8 a.m. shotgun start.
Poston, who led after Sunday’s opening round of 5-under, sat atop the leader board much of day two and was poised to build upon his advantage over the 78-golfer field. Through 12 holes on Monday, the Hickory, N.C., product was 1-under with two birdies against one bogey. However, four bogeys over a five-hole span between the 13th and 17th left him at 3-over par for the round before he birdied the par-4 18th to shoot 74.
Sophomore Tyler Lail matched Poston’s team-best round on Monday, also recording a 2-over-par 74. After scoring birdie and bogey on his first two holes, Lail carded 14 consecutive pars before finishing with back-to-back bogeys – holes on which he was even in Sunday’s opening round. Through 36 holes, the Conover, N.C., native has recorded 24 pars, sitting at 7-over 151. He advanced nine spots in the standings, moving into a tie for 30th.
Senior Jack Walsh trimmed two strokes off his opening round, shooting 5-over 77 on Monday to stand in a tie for 57th overall with a two-round total of 156. Walsh had seven bogeys – four on the front and three on the back – while also securing a birdie on both sides on Monday.
Freshman Nont Panayanggool recorded the team’s biggest turnaround, shooting eight strokes better on the second day with a 4-over-par 76, advancing seven spots. The first-year golfer from Chiang Mai, Thailand, was 2-over on both the front and back nines, charting four bogeys with 18 par scores.
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five is freshman Evan Smith, who shot 82 on Monday for a two-day total of 163. Almost exactly the opposite of his opening round, Smith struggled with his front nine on Monday before carding 1-over on the back. The Bluefield, W.Va., native sits in 72nd overall with 18 holes to play.