Mercer University
David Toms Intercollegiate
Men's Golf in Fourth at David Toms Intercollegiate
10/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Mercer University men's golf team had three players ranked among the Top 25 after the first day of action at the David Toms Intercollegiate, helping the Bears head into Sunday's round in fourth place.
Mercer recorded a score of 309 in the opening round of play on Saturday, before finishing with a 307 on the final 18 holes for a two-round total of 616. The Bears trail third-place Winthrop, ranked 34th in the latest Golfweek.com rankings, by five strokes heading into the tournament's final round. Louisiana State and Southeastern Louisiana each posted a score of 596 to lead the team standings.
"The guys really played hard and kept competing until the end despite some difficult conditions," head coach Kirk Kayden said. "We battled 15-20 mile per hour winds and some touch pin placement, but the guys kept battling."
Emmanuel Kountakis and Jerry Ren paced the team, as the two ended the opening day in a tie for 12th place with a two-round score of 151. Kountakis matched Trey Rule with team-leading 76 to start play on Saturday, before wrapping up the day with a score of 75. Ren carded a 78 in his first round, but would drop five strokes in his final 18 holes en route to a 73 to finish the afternoon.
Rule shot scores of 76 and 78 for a two-round total of 154 to place 25th, while Sean Smothers fired a 160 for the day to place 47th thanks to scores of 79 and 81. Jeffrey Heinicka, Jr. rounded out the players in action, finishing 62nd overall with a total score of 165.
"We didn't quite close like we wanted, so tomorrow will be very important," added Kayden. "It is pretty tight between teams three to 10, but if we take it one shot at a time, keep our emotions in check and stay focused we'll be all set for a good run tomorrow."
The Bears will open up the final round with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Click here for live scoring of Sunday's closing round.
Players Mentioned
