ROME, Ga. - As the weather warms so does the Lee men's golf team. The Flames finished the Rome News-Tribune Invitational with a two-day total of 581 (36 holes) and placed third in the 17-team field.
John A. Logan (Ala.) took top honors with a 574 and Shorter College was second (579). The University of the Cumberlands (586) and host Berry College (589) rounded out the top five.
On a day near perfect for golf at the Stonebridge course, freshman JB Eksteen fired a second straight under par round (71-70 - 141) and earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
He tied for fourth with Arvid Bengtsson of Shorter. "JB gave us two solid rounds of golf," said coach John Maupin. "Overall, I'm pleased with our performance. We were much better prepared coming into this tournament."
Freshman Tyler Hollister, playing only in the individual competition, turned in Lee's second best score of the tournament (73-73 - 146) and placed in a tie for 14th in the field of 105 golfers. The consistent Flames saw Taylor Huse (76-71 - 147) and Tyler Smith (75-72 - 147) claim a tie for 18th. Brad Gardner, playing most of the final round on a bad knee and also one of Lee's individual competitors, joined Huse and Smith at 74-73 - 147.
Jeremy Lawson also stepped up his game (76-72 - 148) and finished tied for 23rd. Sam Bedwell rounded out the Lee scoring with a 74-76 - 150 and was 32nd.
The tournament's top two places went to John A Logan's Marcelo Rozo (70-67 - 137) and Filip Timmerman (66-72 - 138). Pierre Carlsson of The Cumberlands was third (68-72 - 140).
"We had four scores of par or better and that says something for the depth of our squad," said Maupin. "We hit the ball well again from tee-to-green but still left some putts out there. I feel like we have some momentum going and we will need it for the tournament in Texas this weekend. Some of the best teams from the Midwest region of the country will take part in that tournament."