JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - The Bridgewater College men's golf team completed the Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate at the Gold Course at Paradise Point. 

The men played a very good front nine and held on to complete the tournament with three solid scores (298, 305, 306). This is only the third season out of 53 years of the tournament that the men play exclusively on the gold course and each year the Eagles have improved their team score. Overall, the Eagles placed 18th out of 24 teams.

Freshman Walker Gillespie led the Eagles each of the last two days firing (77-74-74=225). Gillespie played steadily but struggled to make short putts and didn't capitalize on the par 5's. As per men's golf head coach John Rogers, the first year is starting to figure out the grind of college golf and he will be a very strong player for us for years to come. 
 
Senior Max Bondurant provided a second score for the Eagles on Sunday and the second best total score for the Eagles on the week (71-80-77=228). He did not feel very sharp the final two rounds but the teams performance reflects his leadership since his return this semester from injury.
 
Freshman Christian Carroll was even through eight holes but bogies finding the score card resulted in a final tally of 77. He finished the tournament with a total score of (77-78-77=232). 
 
Junior Brandon Washburn played steadily for most of the tournament and was among the leaders in the field in par 5 and par 3 scoring. Washburn was +13 for the tournament but he was +9 on holes 4 through 6 for the week. The highlight of the day was a chip-in for eagle on the par 5 18th hole. He finished the tournament with a final score of (74-77-78=229).
 
Freshman Will Layton carded a score of 80 on Sunday with rough patches at the start and finish but played the 12 hole stretch in-between at just 2-over par. He finished the week with a score of (76-76-80=232).
 
The Eagles had to play some of the tougher holes on the back nine carrying a +5 early in the round, but when they got to the easier stretch of holes they added Washburn's eagle plus 6 birdies to make them even through nine holes. At that point the team had jumped four spots on the leaderboard. Holes 4 though 8 with the wind blowing gave back 15 strokes dropping the Eagles down to as low as 21st before climbing back up to 18th. 
 
"This squad is definitely getting better at avoiding larger numbers, on individual holes and for 18 hole scores and our final numbers this week are respectable," said coach Rogers. "The problem right now is that these tournaments and our conference just keep getting stronger and stronger. We will have to keep making strides to see some finishes higher up the leaderboard in these amazing events."

In the end the Eagles still beat three team ranked ahead of them nationally.
 
The Eagles are looking forward to the ODAC Championship which starts on April 28th.