ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Paced by senior Jake Miller's even-par 144, the Anderson University men's golf team is tied for 15th place following the first two rounds of the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate, which is being co-hosted by Wingate and Lincoln Memorial, on a 7,136 yard, par-72, St. John's Golf & Country Club layout.
"Our first round score had us positioned in the top half of the field, but we had a couple of players that struggled in the afternoon round and we slipped to 15th place," said Anderson head coach Danny Neal. "One bright spot was Jake Miller's play. He fired a 2-under-par 70 in the opening round and followed that up with a gritty round of 74. That effort put him in second place heading into the final round tomorrow. Hopefully, we can put together a good final round and move up a spot or two."
Wingate (596) leads the two-day, 54-hole event, by two strokes over co-host Lincoln Memorial (598), with Barry (599) one shot further back in third. Flagler (602) is fourth heading into Tuesday's final round, with Queens (603) and North Greenville (603) deadlocked in fifth place. Belmont Abbey (606) is seventh, while Barton (608), King (608) and Carson-Newman (608) all share eighth place.
Coker (620), Southern Wesleyan (621), Christian Brothers (624), Catawba (624)
Tampa (625), Anderson (625), Hillsdale (628), Tusculum (635), Emmanuel (688) and Albany State (728) rounded out the 20-team field.
North Greenville's Evans Lewis (71-68=139) leads the chase for individual medalist honors by five shots over Miller (70-74=144), who carded six birdies on the day – three in each round. Catawba's Tanner Bibey, SWU's Eric Shea, Queens' Taisuke Ono and Albany State's Tyler Hansen all share third place – one shot behind Miller.
AU freshman Reece Coleman fired a 7-over 151 and is in an 11-way tie for 23rd. Junior Cal Brock notched a 12-over 156 and is tied for 55th, with senior Drake McAlister in a tie for 93rd following a two-round, 30-over-par. Junior Colt Martin posted a 38-over 182 and is alone in 98th place entering Tuesday's final round.
The final round is slated to get underway Tuesday morning.
