Mercer University
Linger Longer Invitational
Men's Golf in Sixth After Opening Day of Linger Longer Invitational
3/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
EATONTON, Ga. – The Mercer University men's golf team had three players ranked among the top 16 on the opening day of the Linger Longer Invitational, while finishing sixth in the team standings in a tournament that features seven teams inside Golfstat.com's Top 30.
The Bears shot a 2-under-par 286 in the first round of the tournament, before firing a 5-under 283 to finish the day with a two-round total of 569. Mercer will head into Sunday's final 18 holes of play ahead of No. 24 Alabama by one shot and nine strokes behind No. 15 Oklahoma and Georgia.
Senior Trey Rule continued his recent tear, wrapping up Saturday with a 7-under score of 137. Playing in his hometown of Eatonton, Rule matched a career-best with a 6-under 66 in the final round, firing seven birdies and one bogey.
Emmanuel Kountakis used a string of four birdies on five holes to top the squad with a 4-under 68 in the opening round of play, before carding a 1-under 71 on his way to a tie for 12th with a total tally of 139. Sean Smothers climbed 13 places in his final 18 holes of the day, recording a 2-under score of 70 to finish in a tie for 16th with a score of 141.
Jerry Ren tallied back-to-back rounds of 4-over 76 to round out the scoring for Mercer, while Jeffrey Heinicka's 4-over 76 in this afternoon's closing round gave him a two-round total of 156.
The Bears return to action tomorrow morning, as they tee off with the second group as part of the shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Click here for live scoring.
