Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Monday, March 1
Palm Beach, FL
Middle Tennessee
at
Southern Invitational
Raiders lead the pack at Southern Invitational
3/1/2021 5:29:00 PM | Men's Golf
Clements, McKay and Jegers each in Top 5
LAKE WORTH, Fla. – Middle Tennessee (-4) came out firing on all cylinders Monday morning at the Southern Invitational, vaulting into first place with an impressive opening round of 7-under par 281 and holding its lead after a 3-over par 291 in the afternoon round.
The Blue Raiders will battle second place VCU (-3) in Tuesday's final round as they chase a third consecutive team title for the first time since 2011-12 while Old Dominion (+1) and Mercer (+1) chase the Top 2 from just five strokes off the lead.
McEntire's squad used under par rounds from four of its five players in the lineup in the morning round to take the early lead, then tallied a seventh consecutive round – stretched across three separate events – in which the Raiders finished their round with at least a share of the lead in the afternoon.
It was Blue Raider individual Gavin Clements who stole the show early on day one, firing a 4-under par 68 to share the lead after 18 holes before finishing the day in third at 3-under (68-73=141) thru 36 holes.
Graduate transfer Connor McKay (71-71=142) and true freshman Kevin Jegers (70-72=142), the latter playing in just his second collegiate event, are one stroke back Clements and tied for fourth place in the field of 69 golfers.
Tanner Owens opened the day with a 3-under par 69 before afternoon struggles saw him post a 4-over 76 in round two, but remains in the Top 20 with 18 holes still to play.
Owen Stamper (74-72=146) and Michael Barnard (71-77=148) round out the scores for the Blue Raider with both ranking inside the Top 30 with plenty of time to make a move up the leaderboard on Tuesday.
"I'm very proud of the way the team played today," Head Coach Mark McEntire exclaimed. "The chemistry this group has is something special! We got great rounds today from Gavin and I'm really proud of the way Kevin fought in just his second collegiate event, as the course played really tough this afternoon."
"I hope our guys can put it all together tomorrow. It's great to continue putting ourselves in a position to win golf tournaments!"
The third and final round of the Southern Invitational will begin with split tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Live scoring can be followed at Golfstat.com.
The Blue Raiders will battle second place VCU (-3) in Tuesday's final round as they chase a third consecutive team title for the first time since 2011-12 while Old Dominion (+1) and Mercer (+1) chase the Top 2 from just five strokes off the lead.
McEntire's squad used under par rounds from four of its five players in the lineup in the morning round to take the early lead, then tallied a seventh consecutive round – stretched across three separate events – in which the Raiders finished their round with at least a share of the lead in the afternoon.
It was Blue Raider individual Gavin Clements who stole the show early on day one, firing a 4-under par 68 to share the lead after 18 holes before finishing the day in third at 3-under (68-73=141) thru 36 holes.
Graduate transfer Connor McKay (71-71=142) and true freshman Kevin Jegers (70-72=142), the latter playing in just his second collegiate event, are one stroke back Clements and tied for fourth place in the field of 69 golfers.
Tanner Owens opened the day with a 3-under par 69 before afternoon struggles saw him post a 4-over 76 in round two, but remains in the Top 20 with 18 holes still to play.
Owen Stamper (74-72=146) and Michael Barnard (71-77=148) round out the scores for the Blue Raider with both ranking inside the Top 30 with plenty of time to make a move up the leaderboard on Tuesday.
"I'm very proud of the way the team played today," Head Coach Mark McEntire exclaimed. "The chemistry this group has is something special! We got great rounds today from Gavin and I'm really proud of the way Kevin fought in just his second collegiate event, as the course played really tough this afternoon."
"I hope our guys can put it all together tomorrow. It's great to continue putting ourselves in a position to win golf tournaments!"
The third and final round of the Southern Invitational will begin with split tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Live scoring can be followed at Golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
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