PINEHURST, N.C. -- Opening the spring portion of the 2023-2024 season on Sunday, the Bridgewater College men's golf team faced one of the strongest fields in program history. In the first round of the Tiger Invitational at Forest Creek. The Eagles produced a team number, 308, that had them in a tie for 13th place with the #13 team in the nation, ahead of a pair of top-30 colleges.
 
Bridgewater entered the Tiger Invitational as the #70 team in the country and they were knocking heads with a list of schools that included 13 of the top-30 teams in the nation. This made the Eagles the 17th-ranked team among 18 in the tournament. But the Eagles dealt with sloppy, windy conditions well enough to stick close to some of the elite teams, and junior Max Bondurant led the way.
 
Bondurant, who dealt with an off-season injury and was only cleared to play a week ago, was not sure how this tournament would go, given the lack of practice-time. "After being in a boot for five weeks and getting out of it a week before the tournament, I wasn't sure about how my touch would be around the greens. But I feel like I can always trust my swing and if I can find fairways, I'll find a way to score," said Bondurant. 
 
When he missed a short putt on #11 and made double-bogey, Bondurant's round could have gone either way, and he was already five over par. But he birdied three of the final four holes and came in with a 74, which was good for a share of 21st place among 90 players. He said his short-game was not always sharp during the first round on Sunday, but it came through on the closing hole on each side -- Bondurant had a short-side chip-in for eagle on the par-5 9th hole, and on #18 he was short-sided again on tight Bermuda grass with a gallery around the green; he hit a low, spinning shot within two feet and tapped in for birdie.
 
Senior Hayden Hawes also came to Pinehurst without much assurance that he was ready for the season. He was not pleased with his qualifying scores, and he is teaching full-time in public schools during his final semester of college, so practice-time has been limited for him too. But like Bondurant, he stepped up when the team entered the arena with many of the top teams in DIII golf. Hawes started the day with a nervy double-bogey and was +4 through seven holes, but he managed the course well and played the remaining holes at even par. He posted 76 to help the team remain competitive.
 
Following a team trend, freshman Alex Deas was +5 through 11 holes but played well on the final seven holes, many of which are exposed to the wind and require maneuvering around a lake. Deas came in with a solid 77. "Alex has a strong skill-set, and seems to have a knack for coming up with good golf in tournament settings," noted head coach John Rogers. "The fact that he's getting serious playing time as a freshman bodes well for his future, and the future of our team."
 
Sophomore Brandon Washburn played steadily most of the day and when the team came alive on the back nine, he added six pars and a chip-in birdie on the final hole. But he also had the only numbers on the squad that were larger than double-bogey, a pair of triples that dropped him to 81. He played the final eleven holes at +3 despite one of the triple-bogies being on #16.
 
Freshman Miles Rhoden completed the first semester of his college career in third place among the Eagles in terms of scoring (77.2), but on Sunday pars were hard to come by. He had tap-in birdies on #6 and #11 en route to an uncharacteristic 88.
 
The Eagles' score of 308 put them neck-and-neck with Babson College, ranked #13 in the nation and just two shots off the host team of Hampden Sydney (#29). Bridgewater also finished the first round in front of the #26 and #30 teams in the nation, and just six strokes behind the #4 team. "We came to town with only two upperclassmen and it was unclear what they would be able to do, " said Rogers. "But Max and Hayden really stepped up today and gave us the leadership we needed. We said up-front that if we could come in under 310 on this golf course we would compete with some great teams. Now we have to back it up and make it official on Monday after one more good round."
 
Huntington College (#21) took the first round lead after shooting even par (288) while two players shot -2 (70) to pace the field.
 
The Eagles will start round two on Monday at 9 am.