After posting an even-par round of 288, the Lee University men’s golf team will find itself in good shape (6th place) heading into the second round of the NCAA South/Southeast Regional play at the Mission Inn Resort. Florida Southern College is the tourney leader with an 8-under 280, followed by Columbus State University 4-under 284, the University North Georgia, 3-under 285, and USC Aiken 1-under 287.
Luke Stock led the way on Thursday for the Flames with a 3-under 69. He had a 32 on the front nine with three birdies and had only one bogey all day.
George Cordall had an eagle when he delivered a 3 on the par 5, No.2 hole. He posted a 33 on the opening nine but a late bogey resulted in his 2-under par 70 round.
Mitchell Strickland finished with a 2-over 74. He had a couple of birdies on the back side to help him with his finish. Bennett McNabb ran into some hard luck with his 75. He suffered a triple bogey and a double bogey in his 3-over round. Freshman Drew Zielinski showed plenty of courage in tallying his 76, which did not count on the scoreboard. He had a pair of double bogeys on front but never quit on his round and will look forward to round two.
Florida Southern’s Max Barile is the medalist leader with his outstanding 5-under 67. A total of seven other golfers are jammed together in a battle for second place with their 3-under 69s.
Evan Spence’s thoughts:
“Really proud of the fight from the beginning from our guys today. In a scenario like this at Regionals where it’s survive and advance, the last thing you want to do is put yourself behind the 8-ball early and we did a nice job of settling into the tournament today. I think we got a pretty favorable tee time draw and now we get to go out early tomorrow morning and try to post a score that will put us in great shape heading into the final round on Saturday.
Individually, Luke was phenomenal today. He’s given us some great round this year but none as timely as this one today. Excited to see him continue to compete the rest of the week. George continued his solid play this semester today and I think this course sets up especially well for him. Mitchell, Bennett and Drew did a great job hanging in there after slow starts and battling all day to give us solid rounds to keep us in the mix. Excited for the rest of the week!”