PINEHURST, N.C. - Despite dropping six strokes on the final three holes of the day, the Bridgewater College men's golf team still improved by eight strokes in the final round of the Tiger Invitational at Forest Creek. Playing in an ultra-elite twenty-team field that included seventeen teams inside the top-50 in DIII rankings, the Eagles concluded play in 18th place.
Bridgewater was paced by freshman Walker Gillespie, who worked hard on his putting Sunday evening after a frustrating first round during which he hit the ball well, but had over 40 putts. On Monday he hit the ball even better for most of the day but this time the putter was cooperating. Through twelve holes after a shotgun start Gillespie had dropped four birdie putts and was -3 on the round. The tough closing holes claimed three strokes from him, but his final tally of 72 was a ten stroke improvement. In his college career Gillespie already has three rounds at even par or better.
After missing the fall portion of the season senior Max Bondurant has improved in all four rounds of the spring season. Yesterday he played solidly en route to a 75 and today he shaved two more strokes to shoot 73(+1). With three birdies on the scorecard, he was 1-under par through fifteen holes, dropping a couple strokes on the closing holes. Head Coach John Rogers said Bondurant managed the course beautifully and made a few clutch putts along the way. The standout player from South County High School completed the Tiger Invitational with no score higher than bogey. He completed the tournament in a tie for 29th beating two players ranked inside the top 15 in the nation.
Alex Deas showed a bit of a pattern this week, getting off to a lackluster start, but coming on strong later in the round. On Sunday he was +9 on the front nine and came in at +3, today he was +6 through nine and finished up +2 to post 80. "Alex arrived in Pinehurst fighting his shot patterns a little but he started to figure out some things as the tournament progressed, " said Rogers. "He drove the ball very well today, and the next big step for the sophomore will be reigning himself in after a big drive; meaning some of his shots today were too aggressive for these greens and instead of leaving 20 feet for birdie he was occasionally making bogey. But he helped pick up the team late in the round when we were dropping strokes late in the round."
Freshman Christian Carroll provided the fourth score for the Eagles on Monday, an 82 that included both a blooper and a highlight. Carroll uncharacteristically had some chipping problems including one hole where he chipped across the green twice, settling for triple bogey in the end. But he also had the shot of the day on the tough par 3 second hole when he blasted out of the front bunker and dropped it for a rare birdie on that hole.
Junior Brandon Washburn said that he never got into his usual groove mentally or physically during the final round. With a double bogey to start alongside a three hole finish at +5 it made it tough to salvage his round, though he made a good effort by playing the middle 13 holes at +3. As a sign of his consistency in his collegiate career, Washburn was the drop score for only the third time in 45 rounds in the starting lineup. He finished the day at 85.
With a final team score of 315-307(622) the Eagles missed the cut to return to this elite event next spring but Rogers noted that there were some good takeaways for the team. The Eagles did manage to beat one team that is ranked almost 40 spots ahead of them, and during the second round they posted a lower score than the No. 24 team in the nation. The coach also pointed out that at the end of a long spring break week and after a tough round on Sunday the players could easily have checked out before the tournament was completed but they kept fighting till the end. No. 2 ranked Methodist put on a dominant performance leading a stacked field by 11 shots.
The Eagles next event is the Ruckus in Williamsburg, Virginia, which starts on March 22nd.
