Mercer Fills Scorecard With Red Ink In Opening Round Of Linger Longer

Friday, March 20

Greensboro, Ga.

All Day

Mercer University

Round 1

Mercer Fills Scorecard With Red Ink In Opening Round Of Linger Longer

3/20/2026 10:08:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Rylee Bamberger, Rylee.m.bamberger@live.mercer.edu

GREENSBORO, Ga. – In the first round of the prestigious Linger Longer Invitational, the Mercer men's golf team shot 11-under as a unit with 23 birdies over the first 18 holes. The Bears are tied for second of 18 teams and sit 10 strokes behind the No. 35 Georgia Bulldogs with 36 holes remaining.

"You know you had a good day when all 6 of your players in this tournament shot even par or better," said head coach Jason Payne. "Henry Robards had a great round and really impressed on the back nine. We will need another great round tomorrow to keep us at the top of the field and give us a chance heading into day three."

Henry Robards headlined the Bears' day with a five-under 67 and is tied for fifth individually after one round of play. The sophomore from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, made the turn at one over par before carding six birdies on the back nine.

Three Mercerians are tied for 22nd individually with scores of two under par. Josemaria Gutierrez, Albin Ekvall and Nathan Trodd ended the day with 70s on their scorecards.

As an individual, Phillips Swift finished the opening round tied for 35th after shooting a one-under 71. Swift began his day with two birdies on the first two holes and eagled the sixth.

Round two at the Linger Longer Invitational is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 21. Cole Hanson is slated to tee off first for the Bears at 10:00 a.m. You can follow along with live scoring here.

Notable Team Statistics:

T1st of 18 teams with an eagle
T2nd of 18 teams in scoring average on Par 5s (4.55)
T4th of 18 teams with 23 birdies
Tied for second-lowest number of bogeys (8)

Notable Individual Statistics:

Henry Robards is tied for the best scoring average on all Par 3s (2.50)
Henry Robards has the most birdies of 108 individuals (9)
Cole Hanson is tied for the second-best stroke average on all Par 5s (4.25)
Phillips Swift and Nathan Trodd are tied for the most eagles (1)
Josemaria Gutierrez is tied for the third-most pars (14)

TEAM LEADERBOARD
Pos.	Team	+/-	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
1	Georgia	-21	267	-	-	267
T2	Mercer	-11	277	-	-	277
T2	Ohio State	-11	277	-	-	277
T4	Alabama	-10	278	-	-	278
T4	Vanderbilt	-10	278	-	-	278
6	Elon	-9	279	-	-	279
T7	Kentucky	-8	280	-	-	280
T7	Virginia Tech	-8	280	-	-	280
9	Kennesaw State	-4	284	-	-	284
T10	Charlotte	-3	285	-	-	285
T10	UNC Greensboro	-3	285	-	-	285
12	South Alabama	E	288	-	-	288
13	USF	+1	289	-	-	289
14	Jacksonville	+4	292	-	-	292
15	Louisiana Tech	+6	294	-	-	294
16	Wofford	+9	297	-	-	297
17	Rutgers	+10	298	-	-	298
18	West Georgia	+23	311	-	-	311
MERCER INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T22	Nathan Trodd (1)	-2	70	-	-	70
T22	Albin Ekvall (2)	-2	70	-	-	70
T5	Henry Robards (3)	-5	67	-	-	67
T22	Josemaria Gutierrez (4)	-2	70	-	-	70
T44	Cole Hanson (5)	E	72	-	-	72
T35	Phillips Swift (IND.)	-1	71	-	-	71