ESTERO, Fla. — Despite being shorthanded, App State Men's Golf excelled through 36 holes before placing ninth among 15 teams with a 14-under total of 850 as play concluded Tuesday at the West Bay Collegiate Invitational.
Brody Tidwell, the No. 1 player in App State's lineup, was a late scratch due to sickness. That shifted the setup to where freshman
Caden Lee went from competing as an individual to being part of the five-man lineup along with
Matthew McDougall,
James Marriott,
Charlie Horne and
Rob Bergevin.
QUICK HIGHLIGHTS:
— Without No. 1 player, App State tied for team lead after 18 and 36 holes
— 14-under opening round tied for best team round (relative to par) in program history
— 14-under final score as team topped only three times in program history
—
Caden Lee (freshman, late addition to lineup) tied for ninth after holding lead during all three rounds
The Mountaineers were tied for first place in a deep team race after both 18 and 36 holes Monday thanks to a 14-under 274 (tying the program record for the best round relative to par) and a 4-under 284 on the par-72 layout. The 14-under final score ranks as the fourth-best team total (relative to par) in program history.
Individually, Lee used a 6-under 66 on Monday morning to lead the event after 18 holes, and he was tied for second at 8 under entering the final round before regaining the lead Tuesday with a six-hole stretch that put him at 10 under for the tournament. A newcomer from Milton, Ga., he tied for ninth place with a 7-under total (66-70-73—209).
Lee had two eagles in his opening round and was at 10 under through 29 of 54 holes. A double bogey on his seventh hole Tuesday — followed by a bogey on No. 8, par on No. 9 and bogey on No. 10 — pushed him outside of contention for medalist honors. The 6-under score in the opening round tied for the third-best mark (relative to par) in program history, topped only by 8-under scores from Sverrir Haraldsson (on a par-71 layout) and
Max Cranford (on a par-72 layout)
Three rounds in the 60s (66 for Lee, 68 for Marriott, 68 for McDougall), plus an even-par 72 from Bergevin, contributed to the 14-under score as a team in Round 1. That matched the fifth-lowest team round in program history (by score) and tied the 14-under total from a 270 on a par-71 layout at the Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational in the 2022 fall.
Marriott tied for 32nd place at 2 under (68-73-73—214), and Bergevin tied for 37th place at 1 under (72-68-75—215). He was tied for ninth place entering the final round thanks to his 4-under score in Round 2.
McDougall's even-par final round led App State on Tuesday and contributed to his 4-over total (68-80-72—220) that tied for 61st place. Horne tied for 74th place at 11 over (80-73-74—227).
Stetson's Uy Doan was the medalist at 13 under, and host Florida Gulf Coast finished at 33 under to win the team title by a stroke over Lipscomb. Three teams tied for third place at 20 under, followed by team scores at 18 under (sixth), 17 under (seventh) and 16 under (eighth).
App State is back in action next week at the Phoenix Invitational hosted by Elon.
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