GAINESVILLE, Ga. – In a field crowded with nearly half of the nation's top-25 teams, senior Reece Coleman and junior Calahan Keever are 1-2 atop the individual leaderboard and paced the Anderson University men's golf team to first place following Monday's first two rounds of the Mizuno Intercollegiate, which is being hosted by North Georgia on a 7,166 yard, par-72 Chattahoochee Club layout.
"The guys played fantastic golf today," said Anderson Director of Golf Danny Neal. "Highlighted by Reece and Calahan, we are leading an elite field after 36 holes. From a team perspective, it was critical for our 3,4 and 5 spots to step up and support Reece and Calahan - and they really achieved that today with Simon firing a 70 and Alejandro finishing with a 73 in his first collegiate tournament round. Parker stepped up in the second round Alejandro added a 75. We need to finish tomorrow with a solid round to stay in the lead and hopefully we will get it done."
The two-day, 54-hole event features a dozen schools in Golfstat's latest top-25 rankings - including five of the nation's top-10 squads.
The Trojans led 12th-ranked West Florida by three shots following the first 18 holes after opening the tourney with the third-best round in program history and blazing through the first 18 holes with a combined 19 birdies, then carded 16 birdies during the second round and hold a two-shot lead over the Argonauts heading into Tuesday's final round. Seventh-ranked and host North Georgia, which won last week's Lander Bearcat Fall Invitational, is 11 strokes further back in third place, with No. 25 Clayton State holding the fourth slot.
Eighth-ranked Georgia Southwestern, the runners-up at last week's Lander Bearcat Fall Invitational, is in fifth place, while Lee University, which is third in Golfstat's rankings and tops in the Golfweek Coaches Poll, is in sixth place.
No. 16 Lander holds the seventh slot, with Erskine and Barton deadlocked in eighth place. Newberry and Limestone are tied for 10th place, while Young Harris and North Georgia "B" are tied for 12th place. USC Aiken, Lincoln Memorial, Columbus State, Wingate, West Georgia, Lenoir-Rhyne and Georgia College round out the 20-team field.
Coleman birdied five of his first nine holes and carded seven birdies in the first round, then added five more over the second 18 holes and leads Keever by one stroke heading into Tuesday's final 18 holes. The Port Elizabeth, South Africa, native's two-round 135 matched the second-lowest 36-hole score in program history and was just one stroke off his own school-record 134, which he set during the 2019 Donald Ross Intercollegiate.
Keever nearly matched Coleman stroke for stroke after notching birdies on his first five holes of the day and adding four more in the second round, while carding an eagle on the par-5, 533-yard 16th hole during the second round.
West Florida's Felipe Garces Garzon trails Keever by one stroke, while Lee's Beck Burnette is in fourth place, just three shots off the pace.
AU sophomore Simon Wright birdied four holes on the front nine during the opening round and is in a 10-way tie for 29th place. Freshman Alejandro de Castro is tied for 47th place, while senior Parker MacDonald rounded out the Trojan contingent with a share of 70th place.
Tuesday's final round is slated to get underway at 9 a.m.
Notables
• AU's two-round 560 set a school record for 36 holes.
• AU's first-round 279 matched the program's third-best 18-hole score and was just two strokes off the school record.
• The Trojans' second-round 281 marked the sixth-lowest 18-hole score in school history.
• Coleman's two-round 135 matched the second-lowest 36-hole score in program history and was just one stroke off his own school-record 134, which he set during the 2019 Donald Ross Intercollegiate.
• Keever's two-round 136 matched the fourth lowest two-round score on school history.
• Coleman's first-round 67 and Keever's second-round 67 matched the seventh-best round in program history.
• Coleman's second-round 68 matched the 19th-lowest round in school history.
• Keever carded an eagle on the par-5, 533-yard 16th hole during the second round.
• AU carded 19 birdies in the opening round and followed up with 16 birdies in the second round.
1 Anderson 279 281 560
1 Reece Coleman 67 68 135
2 Calahan Keever 69 67 136
T29 Simon Wright 70 76 146
T47 Ajejandro de Castro 73 75 148
T70 Parker MacDonald 80 71 151
Team Scores
1 Anderson 279 281 560 -16
2 West Florida 282 280 562 -14
3 North Georgia 283 290 573 -3
4 Clayton State 286 290 576 E
5 Ga. Southwestern 291 287 578 +2
6 Lee University 296 284 580 +4
7 Lander University 291 290 581 +5
T8 Barton College 291 294 585 +9
T8 Erskine College 289 296 585 +9
T10 Newberry 289 297 586 +10
T10 Limestone 293 293 586 +10
12 North Georgia 290 300 590 +14
13 Young Harris 303 288 591 +15
14 USC Aiken 300 293 593 +17
15 LMU 298 296 594 +18
16 Columbus State 298 298 596 +20
17 Wingate 296 301 597 +21
18 West Georgia 303 301 604 +28
19 Lenoir-Rhyne 316 290 606 +30
20 Georgia College 309 299 608 +32
