FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- At the Royal Lakes Invitational, the Bridgewater College Men's Golf Team, playing among 22 of the top Division III teams in the nation, started and finished the day in 17th place. The Eagles shot 311 on Tuesday to hold their spot on the leaderboard.
 
Junior Hayden Hawes, coming off his highest score since last season, bounced back to lead the team with a 77. Following a team pattern, he played very well on the front nine shooting even par for the second straight day. But, like Monday, he dropped a few strokes on the tougher back nine. After a pair of double bogies on 10 and 11, Hawes got back on track and played the remaining holes at just one over par.

"This tournament was strange for Hawes, who is usually good at avoiding large numbers," said Head Coach John Rogers "But, part of the equation was that he broke his driver head in the practice round and had to play with a substitute driver. He actually played 29 of the 36 holes under par but, unusually, had some blowup holes. It was good to see him finish with a better round."
 
Jack Thome took advantage of his first opportunity to play in the starting lineup by posting scores that counted both days. On Tuesday, he matched Hawes with a 77, a round highlighted by a pitch in for eagle on the par 4 sixth hole. On a course that was repeatedly handing out big numbers, Thome went around Royal Lakes twice in his first visit with only one hole above bogey.
 
Also, making his first appearance at Royal Lakes, sophomore Max Bondurant led the eagles for the invitational, posting 73 + 78 = 151. Bondurant was not very satisfied with his closing round, saying he never got any real momentum started. 
 
Jacob Sears and Logan Douthat matched cards both days and each provided a final team score of 79 to close out the invitational. Sears opened with a hot and cold front nine that featured five bogies but three birdies. When the birdies didn't come on the tougher back nine he closed with a 42.
 
Going along with the team trend, Douthat turned in good form with a 37 on the front nine, but double bogies on the two toughest holes(11,13) brought him in with 42 on the back nine.
 
Freshman Brandon Washburn traveled with the starting lineup for the first time in his collegiate career this week and on Tuesday he shaved two strokes from his opening round to post 80. Washburn only missed two fairways in the tournament and said he dropped most of his strokes putting.Washburn led the team on the back nine, playing it in 38 strokes.
 
"If there was something disappointing about our performance this week, it's that we did not manage the tougher holes and the par 5's very well," noted Rogers. "But, we still finished ahead of our ranking playing against a lot of elite teams." The eagles played the front nine at Royal Lakes at +8 for the tournament but were 35 over on the back nine. Bridgewater dropped 25 strokes on the par 5's.
 
"The main goal for this week was to get exposure to a national-level tournament, for the four underclassmen," said Rogers. "And now we will be more prepared for events like the one at Guilford and for the one at Jekyll Island in the spring."
 
Washington and Lee won the Invitational with a cumulative score of 5-under par. Medalist honors went to Tanner Bronnum of Birmingham-Southern who was 8-under par for the tournament. The Eagles are back in action on October 17th at the VSGA Intercollegiate.