Marjorie Whitney Invitational First-Day Results
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – With two rounds in the books, the Eckerd College men's golf team began to put the finishing touches on a strong fall campaign at the Marjorie Whitney Invitational hosted by Queens (N.C.) University on Monday.
The Tritons (311-311--622) are in a three-way tie for seventh at TPC Sawgrass with Erskine College and St. Andrews University after completing 36 holes.
Nova Southeastern University paces the 12-team field at the top of the leaderboard, carrying a five-stroke lead over Barry University. NSU's Ben Taylor recorded a 67 (-5) in second-round play to lead all individuals.
The Pete Dye-designed Valley Course was just home to the Nationwide Tour's Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open presented by Planters last week.
The winning score fired by Gavin Coles in the four-round professional event was just 6-under-par while the field carried the highest stroke average (72.368) of any Nationwide Tour event this year.
As a result, scores across the board were understandably higher than average after the course retained challenging tournament conditions from hosting the touring pros. Intermittent showers also greeted the tournament field throughout the day.
“I don't think we've ever experienced a golf course that has played this difficult,” EC Head Coach
Bill Buttner said. “You just don't see those conditions on country clubs or resorts anywhere. There was tough rough and very fast greens, but overall, it's a great experience for the guys to see what it's like above the collegiate level.”
The Tritons have their target set on Flagler College for regional implications going into tomorrow's final round, trailing just by five strokes.
Callum Georgallides (t21st),
Jeff Evanier (t25th) and
Paul Henderson (t27th), are all within the top 30 to lead the Tritons on the scorecard. Evanier carded the team's low round of the day with a first-round total of 73 (+1).
Henderson posted back-to-back 78's and the senior Georgallides closed out his day with a 76 (+4).
Greg Reilly bounced back with a 75 on his second-round score and
Luke Bobrowski pulled in with a first-day total of 168.
