Bobcats place 11th in Valdosta
The Georgia Northwestern Bobcats improved by 19 strokes from their first round to their second round, but still managed just an 11th place finish at the Thomas University Fall Invitational at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta last week.
Georgia Northwestern shot a disappointing 329 in the opening round on Monday, but saw all five golfers equal or better their scores on Tuesday to finish at 310 ( 639 total).
Noah Hankins followed up an 81 on Monday with a 75 on Tuesday to finish as the team’s low man with a 156, good enough for 44th in the individual standings. Lane Strickland (84-76) and Ryan Redd (80-80) tied for 50th place at 160. Spencer Alexander (84-79) finished in 57th place at 163, while Cole Roberts (88-81) was tied for 59th with a total of 169.
After finishing Round 1 tied for the lead at 289, Coastal Georgia pulled away from the host school with a blistering 276 in Round 2 to finish at 11-under par (565). They were the only team in the field to finish in red numbers. Thomas University equaled its first round and finished at 2-over (578), while Point University (294-294) was third at 12-over (588).
Coastal Georgia’s Mark Johnson had rounds of 70 and 67 to finish at 7-under par and beat Round 1 leader Sam Ledberg of Thomas by one stroke. Coastal’s Eli Scott was third at 5- under.
The Bobcats will now begin final preparation for the USCAA National Tournament, which will be held this weekend at Penn State University in State College, Pa. Georgia Northwestern had the lead last year with nine holes to play, but stumbled to a fourth- place finish.
It was the program’s third straight topfour finish at a national championship.