The Bruins men's golf team competed in a two-day tournament this week in the Bryan College Invitational in Crossville, Tennessee. Unfortunately, the Bruins struggled in the opening round as the team placed 9th overall among the nine teams competing.
"Our relative youth and inexperience continues to show up at times since we are only three tournaments into the season," Bruins Head Coach Denny Scott said. "We are still seeing solid improvement, but maybe not quite as quickly as we would like. Though the first round was a bit of a let down, the team did a great job refocusing and our second round showed many of the improvements we are looking for as it was the best team score so far this season."
The Bruins would be competing against a strong field as eight other programs made up the tournament field. The two-day tournament would be played at Cumberland Bear Trace Course, presenting a challenging landscape for the players.
In the opening round, the Bruins got a boost from freshman Grant Bagwell as he remained even-par though the first four holes. Bagwell was able to birdie later on in the round to help the team as he finished with his best round on the season. Unfortunately, the Bruins bright spots in the round were few and far between as the team struggled down the stretch to finish with a team score 335 (Bagwell - 77, Osteen - 81, Wiginton - 88, Jacobs - 89, Childrey - 92). This placed them in 9th overall on the team leaderboard.
With one round to go, the Bruins looked to climb the leaderboard and finish the tournament strong. This round, the Bruins came out with a renewed focus as the team was able to make several great shots and putts to keep scores low.
Luke Jacobs began the day with a par while Keaton Osteen birdied his opening hole for the round. Isaac Childrey converted two birdies on the front nine while Grant Bagwell again had a great round as he recorded three birdies to help the Bruins gain momentum as they made the turn.
Haddon Wiginton had a highlight to close the round as he nearly aced the final hole par-3, tapping in birdie to finish the day. The Bruins were able to improve by sixteen strokes in the final round as the team scored a 319 overall (Bagwell - 75, Osteen - 77, Childrey - 83, Jacobs - 84, Wiginton - 86).
Unfortunately, the deficit entering the final round was too much to overcome as the Bruins placed 9th overall in the tournament. Bagwell finished tied for 13th overall on the leaderboard while Keaton Osteen finished 24th.
"We only have one more week to have our 'A' game ready for regionals," Coach Scott said. "We definitely gained some confidence with the final round, but we still need some momentum for next week. We have a tough region with defending national champions Erskine in our region. With three other solid programs, this year will be one of the strongest region fields we have ever faced. However, I feel we gained some solid confidence from this tournament and are coming into regionals a bit under the radar which will hopefully work in our favor."
The Bruins will compete in the NCCAA South Region Tournament September 30 - October 1 at Columbia Country Club in Columbia, South Carolina.
