Red-hot Eagles set for State Farm Intercollegiate
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men’s golf team makes its first stop in the Volunteer State during the 2015-16 season as they travel to Tazewell for the State Farm Intercollegiate hosted by Lincoln Memorial Woodlake Golf Club.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's golf team makes its first stop in the Volunteer State during the 2015-16 season as they travel to Tazewell for the State Farm Intercollegiate hosted by Lincoln Memorial Woodlake Golf Club.
Last year, the Eagles finished the State Farm Intercollegiate in second, but the final round of the tournament was cancelled due to rain; C-N fired a combined total of 570 and lost by four strokes to host LMU.
Carson-Newman has carded two-combined round totals of 277 over the course of the last two tournaments, which is one stroke over the Eagles' school record low round.
"We're shooting a lot of low numbers and it's what we expected going into the year," coach Randy Wylie said. "When I put the schedule together, I put a really hard schedule together with that in mind. We have the kind of team and experience and depth needed to play a really tough schedule. I'm glad that plan is working out.
We've got to keep doing what we've been doing, which is just play one shot at a time, not making big numbers, not having three-puts and focus on our game and not get wrapped up in what the competition is doing,"
Carson-Newman senior Andrew Hall (Knoxville, Tenn.) has been playing the best golf in Carson-Newman and South Atlantic Conference history. He has ended his last two tournaments with scores of 202, which initially set and then tied each other for the lowest 54-hole tournament scores in SAC history.
According to Golfstat.com, Hall is the fourth-best player in the Southeast region. The senior has six-consecutive rounds in the 60s and his highest score of the year was a one-over 73. The Knoxville-native fired a 65 during the second round of the Saint Leo's Invitational, which is tied for the sixth-lowest round in SAC history and ties the C-N record initially set by Blake Houser in 2003. Hall has finished each of the last two tournaments at 14-under and he picked up his first-career victory for Carson-Newman at the University of North Georgia Fall Invitational.
"Andrew has shot 14-under two-weeks in a row, which is incredible, one of the best runs of college golf I've ever seen at any division. He's just doing his thing. He's out there just hitting fairways, hitting greens, playing aggressive at the right times and just being a smart, experienced good player like he is," Wylie said.
Hall is joined on the Eagles' team by freshman Jake Headrick (Maryville, Tenn.), junior Dalton Reese (Warrenton, Ga.) and seniors Jace Devault (Bluff City, Tenn.) and Nicklaus Kennedy (London, Ontario, Canada). Senior Nathan Hodge (Jefferson City, Tenn.) and freshmen Anthony Marcinelli (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Alex Hutson (Newport, Tenn.) are competing as individuals in Tazewell.
Headrick has played in every tournament and just capped his best tournament of his career at the North Georgia tournament finishing at one-under. Reese is making his third-straight appearance on the team ; the Georgian has four rounds of even-par or below through six rounds of play and is averaging 72 strokes per round. Devault is coming off his best tournament of the season at the UNG Fall Invitational where the senior fired his two rounds in the 60s during his time in the Orange and Blue and finished the tournament at six-under. Kennedy's best round of the season is an even-par 72, which he has achieved twice this year at Kiawah Island and at Achasta Golf Club; the Canadian is averaging 73.6 strokes per round.
Hutson played in the first tournament of the season at the Kiawah Island Invitational where he carded rounds of 79 and 78 during the two rounds. Hodge and Marcinelli are making their first appearances of the season. Last season, Hodge averaged 78.6 strokes per round and his best finish of the season came at the State Farm Intercollegiate where he finished seven-over. Marcinelli was ranked as the 11th-best high school senior last year in Tennessee and finished third at the TSSAA Class-AAA State Championship; the State Farm Intercollegiate will be his first tournament in the Orange and Blue.
"Nate's played really hot and cold, so hopefully he will have a hot week. He's a senior and certainly has a lot of ability. He's a real strong, physical, long player. Anthony, this will be his first college tournament. He's coming off an injury, a little hip issue that was holding him back a little bit and holding him out, so it will be his first taste of college golf. I'm really excited; he's a terrific player," Wylie said. "Alex Hutson is also going to get a chance to play as an individual in his second-collegiate event as a freshman. It will be fun to watch the two freshman and see how they handle the competition."
Joining the host Railsplitters and C-N in the tournament are: King, Queens (N.C.), Tusculum, Lenoir-Rhyne, Mars Hill, Pfeiffer, Emmanuel and Catawba.
The State Farm Intercollegiate will be played at the Woodlake Golf Club in Tazewell, Tenn. One of the most picturesque public courses in East Tennessee, Woodlake Golf Club features bent grass greens and Bermuda fairways with several holes bordering Norris Lake; the par-72 Woodlake was named "one of America's best new courses" by Golf Diguest in 2000.
Weather permitting, the State Farm Intercollegiate tees off Monday morning with 36 holes scheduled to be played and a final round on Tuesday to determine the championship.
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