The Lee University men's golf team opened the season with a fifth place finish at the University of North Georgia Mizuno Intercollegiate on Tuesday afternoon. The Flames were led by Beck Burnette who came in fourth place. Burnette shot an eight under 208 over the three rounds (69-69-70) finishing just two shots behind the winner.
Connor Pollman was the second best finisher for the Flames coming in tied for 30th with a 220. Bennet McNabb shot a 221 to come in tied for 39th. Oliver Lewis-Perkins was tied for 51st with a 223 and Trey Melvin shot a 224 coming in 58th.
Head Coach John Maupin noted there is room for imprvoement.
“Our execution wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be this week to compete for the win. We have some things we need to clean up before next week, and we will. I thought we did a good job to scratch out a top 5 finish without our best stuff this week, sometimes that’s what you have to do. We played solid the last two rounds, but we need to get off to a better start then we did this week.”
Coach Maupin was pleased with how Burnette finished. “Beck had a good tournament, and really lifted us up this week with 3 red numbers. I thought he managed his game well early on, and then really got into a good groove for a long stretch over the final couple rounds.”
The tournament field featured 11 teams ranked in the Bushnell/GolfWeek NCAA Division II top-25 including seven teams in the top-10. “DII golf is extremely deep, there are a lot of good teams and players out there. This week is a great reminder of that, and how important the preparation is each week to have a chance to win," noted Maupin.
The Flames will head to Columbus, Ga. on September 26-27 to compete in the Cougar invitational.