Mercer University
AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic
Kountakis and Smothers Lead Men's Golf at AutoTrader.Com Classic
10/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
DULUTH, Ga. – Sophomores Emmanuel Kountakis and Sean Smothers each finished the opening day of AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic inside the Top 10 to lead the Mercer University golf team on Monday.
The Bears had their best two rounds of the season to start the day, carding a 286 on both sets of 18 holes. Mercer will head into Tuesday's final round in sixth place with total score of 572, trailing first place UNC-Greensboro by 10 strokes.
"We had a pretty solid day, but not as good as we would have liked," head coach Kirk Kayden said. "Our guys played the Par 5's and Par 3's well but we struggled as a team on the Par 4's. Emmanuel had a great day, rebounding from a quadruple bogey with four-straight birdies on the opening round. Sean also had a strong afternoon to give us two Top 10 performers."
Kountakis shot an even-par 72 on the opening round of play, before cruising to a score of 68 on Monday's final round. He wrapped up the day in fourth place overall with a total score of 140. Smothers fired a team-best 70 to start the morning, before finishing the day in ninth place with a score of 141.
Rule shot scores of 73 and 72 for a two-round total of 145 to place 26th, while Jeffrey Heinicka, Jr. finished with a score of 146 thanks to rounds of 71 and 75 en route to 34th place. Jerry Ren and Justin Connelly, who played as an individual, closed out the action for Mercer, carding two-round scores of 160 and 154 respectively.
"Last week, we were able to have a great final round and we're hoping to have a nice finish once again this week," added Kayden. "One of these rounds, all five guys will put it all together at the same time and we'll finish with a special round."
The Bears will open up the final round with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Click here for live scoring of Tuesday's closing round.
Players Mentioned
