GREENSBORO, N.C. - The ODAC men's golf championship opened play today at Forest Oaks Golf Club and the Bridgewater College team had a solid start while paired with the No. 1 and No. 23 ranked teams in DIII golf.
 
"Today we had pristine golf weather on a good golf course, we had the first tee times of the day, and we had a pairing with two great teams," said head coach John Rogers. "This is a dream scenario in college golf, so we told the guys to enjoy every minute of it, and they ended up playing right along with W&L and Averett. It was a good start to the championship, for sure."
 
The Eagles entered the day with a strategy of dividing the course into three six-hole sections, knowing that the first stretch of holes included three holes that generally play among the hardest at Forest Oaks. But the squad managed to drop five birdie putts in the first four holes, and after six holes the Eagles were actually ahead of the top-ranked Generals from Washingon & Lee. They played the opening stretch of holes at just +2.
 
Walker Gillespie came out hot, making birdie on the tough first hole, and another on No. 4. Early in the round the freshman was -2 and atop the leaderboard. He turned at -1 and played a quiet back-nine, completing the round in 72 strokes (even par). He sits in a tie for 7th one third of the way through the championship.
 
Moving to the middle stretch of holes, the Eagles thought this part of the course would allow better scoring, but the Eagles had three double-bogies and some other dropped shots. They played holes 7 through 12 at +7, but they were still sticking right with W&L and No. 23 Averett.
 
Senior Max Bondurant, getting close to the end of a strong career at Bridgewater, had a double-bogey and two bogies in the middle stretch of holes, but he also had two birdies -- and then he played the final eight holes at -2 to post a solid score of 73 (+1). He is tied for 10th.
 
Similarly, Brandon Washburn had two double-bogies and a bogey in the middle holes, but had two birdies, and he got back on track to play the final six holes at even par. The junior posted 77.
 
Freshman Will Layton was not feeling confident on the range in the morning, but he pulled something together and played a scrappy round for the Eagles. He was -1 through five holes, and even when some shots went astray on the back nine, he made several great putts for par-saves. He had some misfortune on No. 17, a long par-3 -- he pulled his tee ball just left of the green, and it jumped into the tall grass, never to be found. He took double-bogey there, but bounced back with a birdie on the final hole to post a much-needed 76. He sits in 28th place among 55 players.
 
Freshman Christian Carroll admitted to being nervous early in his first ODAC Championship and he got off to a rough start. He was already +8 after five holes and never really got much momentum, other than a pair of birdies late in the round. After posting 89, Carroll went to the driving range and worked on some swing thoughts for Tuesday.
 
With their strategy of playing three six-hole increments, the Eagles went +2 in the first segment, +7 in the middle, but came in strong at just +1 on the closing stretch. The final number of 298 (+10) had them a single shot behind the Generals and tied with Averett. 
 
Playing in a conference with five top-25 teams and six in the top-50, the Eagles arrived at Forest Oaks a No. 9 seed, but they completed the first round in a tie for 6th, and just three shots from second place. Lynchburg (No. 8 nationally) shot -1 to open an eight-stroke lead, but the next eight teams find themselves within six strokes of each other.
 
The Eagles are not only tied with Averett, but also with No. 14 Guilford. Jonathan McEwen of W&L, the top DIII player in the country, shot 65 today to open a six-stroke lead in the individual race.
 
"Playing well today should give us another good pairing tomorrow," noted Rogers, "and the guys seem to be having fun, so who knows, maybe we will hang around with these elite teams a little longer."
 
The Eagles return to the course at 9 AM Tuesday for the second round.