When the Lee men's golf team tees off on Tuesday morning in the Montevallo Blue Moon Invitational, it will be trailing tournament leader Georgia Southwestern by five strokes. The Flames fired a 285 during Monday's opening round. Southwestern carded a 280 and second place Young Harris had a 283.
Montevallo's Wes Cain is the tournament leader. He fired a 4-under par 66 on the par 70 Timberlake Golf Club. Barrett Waters of West Georgia holds down second place after a 67, while three golfers including Lee's Peyton Sliger, Southwestern's Haynes Dupree and Shorter's Alberto Hernandez each carded a 68 and are deadlocked for third spot.
Most of the entire field is within striking distance as the tourney heads into the final round.
Lee's Adam Wright is tied with four other golfers for 12th place after he recorded a 1-over par 71. Matt Strube and Taylor Davis are in a group of 10 golfers tied for the 19th spot. Each posted a 73. Shea Sylvester turned in the only score that didn't count for the Flames but he finished just eight strokes off the pace with a 74.
"Though the guys got off to a slow start, they did a great job of fighting the entire day," said Lee assistant coach Hunter Vest. "When things seemed to be trending in the wrong direction, I was proud of our guys for fighting on every single shot and remaining patient."
Vest added, "Each of our guys played their last four holes under par which should give us some momentum heading into the final round. If we can find a way to eliminate a few big numbers from our simple mistakes, I think we should be able to work our way back into good position."